To thnk that airlines should not allow lap babies on flights?

[Frannyhy]

I’ve not flown for a few years, so I don’t know if lap kids are allowed by all airlines. I’m in South America at the moment, on a big trip.

My flight between cities was delayed yesterday due to bad weather. There were a lot of hot, tired people by the time we got on.

I was in the aisle seat and a woman with a baby arrived and indicated she was in the same row. I got up for her and she said something I didn’t understand and waited. Finally, she reluctantly sat in the middle seat with the baby on her lap. Her partner appeared from the other end of the plane and gave her some baby stuff.

She started complaining to the cabin crew, pointing at my seat. By now I understood she wanted to be in the aisle. I said no, and one of the cabin crew said to me in English, “Don’t worry we haven’t got time for this, we’re already an hour late. It’s only a 90 minutes flight so she can manage.”

I’m left wondering why lap babies are allowed on flights. He wasn’t restrained so if anything had happened, it would have meant he probably would have been seriously injured or worse.

I was on a cheap flight so I don’t care that I had to sit next to a wriggling baby. I just ignored him and read my book.

But I do think allowing babies on laps should be stopped. It’s fucking dangerous.

Just restrained for take off and landing, not the whole flight.

Why at a reduced cost? It takes the same space.

In the OP's situation she still would have been sitting next to the baby! Just in the middle seat with the baby in the aisle seat instead of vice versa.

If only......

Most people don't bother, because that means paying for another seat when they can just be on your lap for free

@FairKoala

This idea that child seats must end up flying around on turbulence is nonsense and I'm not sure why it keeps being claimed.

What happens is dead straightforward:

Get on aircraft with an approved seat (and infant).

Thread aircraft seat belt through structure of car seat (if seat hasn't got suitable structure then chances are it's not an approved design and you'll get a ..from the cabin crew..and handed an infant lap belt)

Buckle up the aircraft bely and really tighten it - cabin crew often assist and also remember (?) unlike a car seat there's no inertia reel to slacken things off...it should stay tight the whole flight.

Insert infant, buckle them in, buckle yourself in and go flying.

When working I must have flown hundreds of thousands of miles on flights with some kids onboard in car seats, through turbulence at times, and I never once saw or heard of a car seat or infant coming adrift, lose, or ending up on their heads.

People are imagining a problem that doesn't really exist.

We put 10 month DS in a car seat 18 years ago. Do people not do that anymore?

Rowlocks....and I say that as someone who has worked with a few air crash survivors, including someone who was one of the cabin crew at Kegworth and ended up suspended upside down by his seatbelt in the wreckage.

But if you are planning on being fatalistic please book a window seat away from an exit.

Car seats have got bigger and are attached in more advanced ways now, instead if seatbelts.

So ironically... not as easy to attach to a plane seat with a lap belt. We deliberately chose a Britax seat 14 years ago as it could ve used on a plane, but wasn't isofix for example.

Maybe they should store them in the overhead locker?

I flew in Central America as a child in the 70s.

One of the passengers was holding a live chicken as he boarded the flight, which he held in his lap the entire flight (no extending restraint/lap-belt for the chicken lol!)

There also appeared to be more passengers than seats, as there were people standing up for take-off and landing.

If you are getting on a plane, sometimes you have to buy a small carseat that is easier to travel with. I don’t understand why people are acting like this is new or difficult.

strap baby in during takeoff, landing, and turbulence. Take them out as needed during calm periods of the flight.

Yeah well some people can't afford to buy that seat? I live overseas for work, we fly without the extra seat till they're two and have to have their own. If OP thinks kids shouldn't be on laps that's something to take up with airlines, not individual customers who are doing something they're allowed to do. It's very weird that this seemed novel to her.

I agree they should have a seat, more for all the baby paraphernalia in easy reach instead of trying to pop a hip bending over in a tight space while simultaneously holding a wriggling baby, or if a wriggling 18 month old would have been lovely. I actually would have loved this. Cuddle time and then optional sit and play with toys. It was hard work sometimes. At least parents have a choice.

If parents want to sit together they need to book and pay to book seats, yes flights can be cheap but you have to factor in pre booking charges.

"Some baby" you're a charmer. It can be difficult to manage kids on flights. But anyway, a lot of the time people sitting next to the baby prefer to move. OP didn't want to and didn't so maybe you should find something else to get oddly and disproportionately angry about. don't call kids brats.

I used to fly London to Vietnam semi regularly with my baby/ies. About 15 hrs with a stop in Dubai. I definitely slept for some of that. Most of the time baby had a bassinet as we booked those bulkhead seats, or I had the baby in the extended lap belt on my lap, curled up asleep while I dozed. Buying an extra seat just wasn't an option with the costs of long haul flying. It's weird because looking back, I don't recall ever seeing a baby in a car seat on a plane. Every flight I've been on has had babies on it, but they always sit in their parents lap

As you rightly point out the problem with car seats is the associated costs, but they definitely do appear on board, even on Long Haul flights, but certainly not usually in big numbers and not on every flight.

Why?
That would cost parents more and airlines would lose money on standard seat if sold at a reduced price to a baby.

You’re a charmer.

I think they're safest on Laps with a seat belt, the reality is, if a plane crashes then no safety belt or car seat is helping so its different to travelling by car, where car seats are safest. If they're strapped to a parent and held on their knee then they are protected from turbulence and can have any required oxygen mask fitted easilyor be instantly grabbed and easily carried for an evacuation or emergency landing situation. A car seat on a seat would also be safe for sure although might be harder to quickly grab/fit an oxygen mask/equipment. You can't have a 3 month old flopping around in an adult seat with nothing to protect them and keep them upright!

I took my twins on a flight when they were 5 months old. Partner and I had one each in a baby carrier. We were told they had to be removed from the carrier and have the plane seat belt around them. Utter madness. The seat belt isn’t giving them any protection.

same reason why kids go free in metro up to one age and have reduced prices in boats , museums etc

I have 5 children but I would be fully supportive of child free flights if they came into being !!!!

🤣🤣😂

if a plane crashes then no safety belt or car seat is helping so its different to travelling by car, where car seats are safest

Slightly off topic but I really can't get my head round this seemingly popular view here that safety belts and car seats etc won't help in the event of a 'plane crash...because..?? reasons?

History shows that there have been a multitide of what would definitely described as crashes where the chances of a passenger or crew member surviving have been improved due to the wearing of seat belts....

There's the horrendous Sioux City DC-10 crash that I mentioned a while back, through British Midland at Kegworth..those are obvious ones where aircraft pretty much came apart but despite that there were survivors...

Even on the less dramatic crashes such as the one on the Hudson or the BA38 (Hatton Cross) the belts allowed people to get through the impact, deceleration and jolts without too much damage and left them in better shape to evacuate.