on a recent flight on Hawaiian Airlines -we asked for the seat belt for the 4month old baby with whom we were travelling -(having already flown for Sydney to Honolulu with jetstar and baby attachment seat belt) to be told " OH no- your arms are the seat belt" . Is there a law about this??

You can be sure that US airlines are following US regulations on this.

BTW, you can buy and bring your own CARES harness for use, which is approved by the US FAA. But airlines are not required to provide them.

The law requires a seat, with safety belt, to be provided for anyone over two years old. Those under two years old can be in the arms of an adult (without any further restraining device) or in an approved child seat in a separate seat. (Other restraint devices also may be approved.) Airlines are not required to provide such child seats or restraining devices.

So the Hawaiian attendant was correct.

If you want, feel free to slog through 14 CFR §121.311

On a recent trip to Asia I noticed about 1/2 dozen families with babies around the same age. All of the parents (moms) brought and wore a baby carrier / sling - we used to call them baby Bjorns in the US.

http://www.amazon.com/BABYBJ%C3%96RN.../dp/B0009JOSNM

I doubt they are FAA approved as a fully secured, crash worthy seatbelt, but my impression was that they would be more secure than arms alone, especially if mom/dad relaxes at the wrong time and there is turbulence.

thanks for the enlightenment. The law is obviously different in Australia. We actually did have a baby carrier as well but on Australian airlines you have to take the baby out of that and use the baby seat belt which attaches to the adult one.

On international airlines they usually give the parents a seat belt strap for children but US airlines believe that the child is safer in the arms of a parent or a TSA approved child safety seat which is why you won't see one of those straps on a US airline.

The only safe place for a baby on an airplane is in an approved seat of the correct size for the child. Babies held on the lap will be killed in an accident through collision with the rest of the airplane (there is no way to hold them on your lap against the forces of impact). Babies secured against their parents with an extra belt will be crushed to death in an accident.

Airline crashes are extremely rare. However, if you want your baby to survive a potential crash, put him or her in an approved seat and buy him his own seat on the airplane. If the airline won't let you do this, change airlines.