Do Jet2 hand out belt extensions for babies on lap?

[AugustBabyBags]

Travelling soon with my 6 mth old. When I first flew with my eldest at 18 months (Ryanair), I assumed we’d get an infant loop belt for take-off and landing. Instead I was told, quite abruptly, to ‘just hold her’, which felt really unsafe given the standard seatbelt wasn’t long enough for both of us.

Now I’m back to flying with a baby again and feeling uneasy. Do Jet2 provide the proper infant loop belts, or is it the same as Ryanair?

I’ve always found Jet2 miles better than Ryanair in general, but I’m not sure what their policy is here.

I was on a jet to flight in may and they were giving them out to people with babies. I don't have a baby but was sitting opposite one so not sure if its normal on all thier flights.

I assumed we’d get an infant loop belt for take-off and landing. Instead I was told, quite abruptly, to ‘just hold her’, which felt really unsafe given the standard seatbelt wasn’t long enough for both of us.

That would be completely illegal in most jurisdictions/under most regulators in Europe.

If it was a flight touching the UK I'd be sending details to the UK CAA.

Thank you, this is very useful to know! It was a while ago now as DD1 is now 5. But good to know it’s illegal which makes me feel a bit better to push back if I ask and get told to hold baby again.

This is sounding positive then, thank you!

Jet 2 when we went with them but it does vary based on the airline. In my experience the European ones tend to give you one so surprised at RA but the US based carriers never do.

It’s not a safety concern though. The belts aren’t safe either and in a crash would likely cause catastrophic internal injuries. If safety is your upmost concern buy a seat for the baby and put them in a car seat or approved restraint system e.g. CARES. Air travel is so safe and the chances of anything going wrong are so minuscule, especially compared other forms of transport, that most of us are happy not to bother. Interestingly the FAA in the US had banning lap infants on their list of wanted safety improvements for decades but ultimately decided against it because they concluded that if forced to but a ticket for their infants many more families would opt to drive instead and because you’re so much more likely to have a crash in the car vs. on a plane it would inadvertently increase deaths.

In simple terms Uk/european rules are that infants under 2 absolutely have to be mechanicaly restrained, using a secondary.loop belt or in their own aircraft seat in an approved car seat. All reputable airlines will certainly carry the loop belts and should ensure they are used.

For info simply holding onto them, something that was, maybe still is, allowable in the US but it's a major breach of most if not all regulators legislation this side of the pond.

Despite rumours Ryanair are objectively pretty solid when it comes to safety so I'm surprised to hear of this.

https://www.caa.co.uk/our-work/make-a-report-or-complaint/report-something/report-a-safety-concern/

Would’ve of loved to have bought an extra seat, tried to buy they wouldn’t let us for a child under 2.

Tbh I was caught off guard when it happened as I just assumed we would be given one as I’d always seen them given out on European flights before we had kids. But she seemed like an experienced air steward and was so firm and abrupt about it and it was the first time we’d flown with a child with Ryanair as first time parents (lockdown kid so we were still catching up with a lot of things we might’ve taken for granted by that time). I was just left feeling a bit like I was in the wrong for asking.

Clearly I know and am getting to know better now. Thank you for the link. I think it’s probably a bit late in the day to complain about that incident now (DD is 5 now). But useful for anyone else that might come across this thread. Thanks

Not just allowable in the US but mandatory. Using belts that strap the baby to you are not allowed in the US. It’s one of those places where the rules are completely the opposite of each other.

Not just allowable in the US but mandatory. Using belts that strap the baby to you are not allowed in the US. It’s one of those places where the rules are completely the opposite of each other.

Thats odd, we’ve flown with them twice and purchased a seat for a child under two on both occasions.

That is odd because I remember trying to book an extra seat (was wanting to get a bank of 3 for us) and it not letting me. When I called them I remember being told I couldn’t. Had a friend tell me the she encountered the same although I think she was going with another airline.

I think this thread has been duplicated up (MN was acting up and I may have pressed post twice creating 2 posts). Will flag to MN team.

They do allow it but you have to call to book and granted that may be more trouble (and money!) than its worth for a short flight. Unless maybe they’ve changed it recently? But still they don’t half make it difficult!

I looked up Canadian rules (just for fun) and found this text:

4.4 Devices not approved for use as a child restraint system
(1) In 1994, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a study entitled “The Performance of Child Restraint Devices in Transport Airplane Seats”. The research for the study conducted by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) involved dynamic impact tests with a variety of devices installed in transport category aircraft passenger seats. The results of this study were used as the basis for prohibiting the use of certain devices on board Canadian aircraft. Subsequent studies conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and European Aviation Safety Agency produced similar findings.

…..

• (b) Supplementary loop belt (belly belt): while similar to a normal adult lap strap (width, material and buckle), this is a belt for infant use that is attached to an adult’s safety belt by feeding the adult’s belt segment through a loop on the infant’s belt. The adult’s belt segments are then fastened together, the infant placed on the adult’s lap, and the infant’s belt is then fastened around the infant’s mid-section. The normal lap strap is designed to sit low across the hips of an adult, which restrains the adult in an accident. However, when used on an infant, the loop belt rests entirely within the infant’s abdominal region, which will likely result in severe internal injuries in an accident. As well, in an accident the infant acts as an energy absorbing element for the adult’s body, which performs a jack-knife movement over the infant in an accident. While the impact loads are reduced for the adult, the load on the infant is further increased due to the crushing forces from the adult torso.

https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/reference-centre/advisory-circulars/advisory-circular-ac-no-605-003#toc4

Yep, it's a long story.

As @Bitzee and @ThreeDeafMice mentioned there's evidence out there that using loop belts can cause serious injuries to infants in certain circumstances...problem is that has lead to some arguing that there's no point is using them at all.

Reality is that on many incidents/accidents an infant in a lap belt is still better protected than an infant simply being held on a lap..

I can definitely see the logic in your last point.

Goodness, am I glad I’ve been doing CBT because I’ve had a fear of flying since I was in my early teens to the point of avoiding travel at one point. Has been so much better with therapy I didn’t even think twice about going away and staring this thread but just found myself catastrophising a little 😅

Glad it sounds like we are likely to get a belt loop. That makes me feel better.

Worth remembering too that air travel is the safest form of travel there is. So belt or no belt, and you will get one with a European airline, when it comes to your summer holiday you’re already making a very safe decision to fly wherever you’re going over driving somewhere like the South of France that would involve a lot of time in a car.

Hope you have a lovely holiday!

Very good point @Bitzee , thank you x

We flew twice with Jet2 last year with a 1 year old and they provided loop belts each time.

Interesting. We just came back from Canada & I was approached each way by cabin crew explaining they no longer give belts for babies (DD2 8m at the time) and what to do in an emergency. I assumed it was new practice as was always given one for DD1 (nearly 4)

I was on a flight from the UK yesterday on Easyjet and they handed out a belt and checked that the mother knew how to use it. But I don't know if she asked for it or if they issue one to all mothers with infants.

On a UK and european carrier It's should automatically be handed out by the cabin crew.

Some of the previous input might have muddied the waters, I'll try a "happy to be corrected" round up.

UK registered aircraft, so BA etc..there is a legal requirement (via the Air Navigation Order) that infants are secured by a supplementary belt/harness or in own car seat.

Europe under EASA regs is similar to UK though there might be a few national difference.

Certainly in the UK case in the CAA got wind (e.g via a flight ops inspector) that infants were travelling unrestrained for take off and landing the airline, the aircraft captain and cabin crew could be sanctioned.

Other countries such as US different rules...it's their train set...their regulators have looked at the data (as will all the other regulators), done a risk v benefit analysis relevant to their operating enviroment and decided they are happy with nil mechnical restraint

Thank you for this roundup , it’s very useful