Flying with your baby on your lap...
 

Seeing a recent thread relating your most horrid flight......

well being on a soldout flight during a 6 hour leg of a much longer journey...........There is nothing worse than being on a soldout flight and have a heavy parent with their 2 year old on their lap for a 6 next to you for a 6 hour flight.

ooops, I'm wrong.... It's much worse when they mention they are flying on ffmiles while you've paid a couple of grand full price, only to be completely abused by this person and their child........toddler kicking you for 6 hours, parent obivious on the torture they're putting you thru.........

Now don't even get me started on how dangerous it can be to have a child on your lap...........I'm feeling selfish....and want to share how selfish it is for parents to not buy a ticket for their toddler/baby. It's just not right. Flying for free with you baby on your lap.......it's all so wrong.

My humble, yet annoyed opinion.

gyppielou,

Do you ever wonder how much extra people would pay to fly on an 'adult only' flight?

Especially long flights!

I agree, people should pay for a toddler to have his/her own seat. But, I always hate to hear complaints because what's a family to do? never take a kid on a plane?

My sister and I are taking her 20-month old to London next month for my Grandfather's 80th birthday. It may be the last time he gets to see his great-grandson. Should we not take him? Of course, we are getting him his own seat and in the middle of the two of us.

I think it is amazing that we live in a time where we can take my nephew to see his great-grandpa.

I hate to hear kids crying on planes, too. But, let's all be a little understanding.

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no "understanding" for people who choose to have children and then seem unwilling to monitor their behavior.

What's a family to do? Very simple..when they decide to have children they need to decide at the same time they are willing to pay the costs necessary if they feel it is absolutely essential that a child travel with them on an airplane.

Full responsibilty for actions seems to be harder for some folks to accept, without whining about it, than for others.

Wow, in all the directions this thread could take, now we're berating people for taking their kids to see the great-parents?

(I could just imagine the opposite brew ha ha here if someone said I'm leaving my 20 month old home with a non-family member so the rest of family can go get together.)

Yeah, boy, those Alisa's sound like really bad parents taking their kid to see his family.

I feel your pain gyppie. I got kicked in the knees from St. Louis to Baltimore on a Southwest Airways flight (my very last). We were in those seats that face each other and mommy kept saying, "Susie, don't kick the nice lady, he he, don't kick the nice lady".

I think you all know my stand on lap children and the FAAs irresponsible, dangerous, and stupid stance on the issue.

What is a 'grammatical ellipse'?

...

gyppie, this comes awfully close to a troll, "bless your heart." ;-)

As long as we're all being horrified and outraged, let me say what horrifies and outrages me is the idea that it's safe to do this - to have a child "loose" on a plane. All you have to do is imagine your thoughts, as you try to hold a child in your lap while your plane tries the kind of landing the JetBlue had last week, and you just begin to understand the complete lack of safety in the arrangement.

Yes, responsible parents should buy children their own seat, for this reason above all others.

And why did it take 9 previous posts mainly concerned about the comfort of seatmates to get to this point? Because this is an old, old, old theme of battle here in Fodorland -- in which non-parents trash parents traveling with kids, making parents wonder if the non-parents think they were hatched and kept in an incubator until they were 21!

12 years ago, I took my 14 month old on a trip to Hawaii. Yes, she rode on my lap. I paid for my seat. My husband's company paid for his. I was also 5 months pregnant. It was a long and uncomfortable flight and I wish that we had the money at the time to buy her a seat! It was not required back then, nor was it encouraged. As a matter of fact, it was encouraged to hold your baby during take offs and landings. Anyway, I would buy the seat for a toddler today.(She was a good traveler even then.)
On another note, I was kicked in the back for 5 hours to Aruba and not once did the dad say stop kicking the nice lady. He didn't care and slept most of the trip. It was very rude. I also had ADULTS on that same trip to Aruba, lean their seats so far back that they were in my lap and they did not seem to mind that one bit. So adults are the rude people and as a result, children become rude too.
By the way, if my kids were not good travelers, they would have stayed home. They are excellent travelers and are well behaved on airplanes. We enjoy taking them and being with them.
One more thing, the people who have free flights are generally the people whose travel(or spouse) travels with their jobs for a living. They are frequently out of town. My spouse is the traveler and so we appreciate the free tickets that take us out of town to be with him on vacation. His tickets are well earned free tickets.

For all the whiners on here..please come back & revisit your comments once you have children of your own. My daughter (now 3) has traveled extensively w/us. Sometimes w/a seat, sometimes not. It seems the problem in the original posters case is not a 'lap child' but poor parenting skills. I don't think a seat would correct that problem. Typically when we travel w/our children (now 3 & 5 months), we attempt to get a group of seats together to try & avoid the likes of some of the posters on here. We also try to upgrade to business class when traveling overseas, but that is not as easy to do these days. We are well aware of the strain we put on some folks but I must say several airlines do there best(Lufthansa being one of my favorites) when dealing w/parents & young children. On my next flight, I hope I am seated next to a well-behaved child, rather than several of you on here.

"We are well aware of the strain we put on some folks but I must say several airlines do there best(Lufthansa being one of my favorites) when dealing w/parents & young children."

As a parent myself of 2 children, I would NEVER have brought them if I couldn't afford to buy them their own seat. It is common courtesy not to overwhelm your neighbor with the difficulties associated with having a child on your lap when space is so limited anyway. If you're acknowledging the "strain" that your child poses to your immediate neighbors, especially on a long overseas flight, how can you feel that they deserve to deal with your lack of common sense and selfishness. You expect others to respect you, yet you paid for 1 person and 2 people are in a small space meant for 1. So if the cabin pressure drops and the oxygen masks drop down, then what? There are only enough for the number of seats. Who gets the mask? You are supposed to, to be able to put another on your child, but there may not be one for her/him. What now? Tell me honestly, is your child's life not worth the price of a seat? Nevermind if there's an emergency or rough landing. How are you going to hold this child safely? The thrust of yourself against your child in such instance could crush them. Wake up and buy your children a seat people or don't take them, for their sake, and the sake of the others that have to sit next to you.

sam - please take the time to read the entire post prior to starting your rants...Typically we don't have neighbors, we inhabit our own row. On every flight I have been on to Europe it has been chock full of children of various ages. I am obviously not the only parent on these flights. If you prefer the 'adults only' type of flights I am pretty sure Hooters Air may have what you are looking for. In cases where a plane is in trouble (or going down), survival is not likely, seat or not. In flying over a couple of million miles to date, I've never seen an oxygen mask on an airplane. Let's face facts, everything in life is a risk..It is, however, many times more dangerous for me to walk or drive my kids to the park than to put them on an airplane. I can't believe I'm even wasting my time responding to this...it is often difficult to reason, with those that are not reasonable themselves.

SAnParis - Whether you typically inhabit the whole row or not, it's not 100%, and I wouldn't want to sit next to you with a child sitting in your lap. If the oxygen masks came down, I'd obviously make sure your child had one and forego one, putting myself in danger too. I don't care how many miles you've traveled, it's just wrong to have a child in your lap. Do you do it driving in a car? And yes, I understand that a car is entirely more dangerous, but why take the chance just to save $200 or $300, it's not worth a child's life. Your comment is ridiculous to encourage me to fly on Hooters Air (not that there's anything wrong with Hooters Air, but I personally wouldn't fly it, unless I turned lesbian). I don't mind flying with children at all, as long as they are well behaved and in their OWN seat buckled up!

Wow, Intrepid, such venom. Is it about me? Uhmmmm....no. It is about my Grandfather who will be 80 years old. When I saw him a month ago he looked so frail. It is about him and giving hom a joyous birthday. Will my nephew remember it? Who knows and who cares. My Granfather will.

So, get off your soapbox. I sincerely hope you do not have children.

Ooops, sorry for the typos!

I agree that most child misbehavior on planes has nothing to do with the child's seating situation. It is generally about the parenting. Of course every kid has a meltdown occasionally and sometimes they happen on planes. Most annoying kid behavior I see has nothing to do with a meltdown though. I've sat next to people with lap kids several times and not had any problems.

The only real issue I have with children flying without their own seat is safety.

Cassandra, the lap children on that Jet Blue flight were not held in the laps of the parents but held on the floor of the plane between the parents feet.

That is the standard procedure crash position for emergency landings.

Not for the safety of the child but for the safety of the other passengers on board.

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org...ics;108/5/1218


Occupant protection policies for children younger than 2 years on aircraft are inconsistent with all other national policies on safe transportation. Children younger than 2 years are not required to be restrained or secured on aircraft during takeoff, landing, and conditions of turbulence. They are permitted to be held on the lap of an adult. Preventable injuries and deaths have occurred in children younger than 2 years who were unrestrained in aircraft during survivable crashes and conditions of turbulence. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a mandatory federal requirement for restraint use for children on aircraft. The Academy further recommends that parents ensure that a seat is available for all children during aircraft transport and follow current recommendations for restraint use for all children. Physicians play a significant role in counseling families, advocating for public policy mandates, and encouraging technologic research that will improve protection of children in aircraft.

"...preventable injuries have occurred..." I would be anxious to see the exact numbers. By the way, we certainly don't have enough red tape, government bureaucracy & general interference in our lives now, so lets add some more. Sam - I'll be happy to buy my child a seat to Europe next time I go, just find me those seats for $200. As a practical aside, most children (particularly under 1) are very much in need of having their parents close at hand, & I would wager, even when I have had seats, I have ended up holding my child anyway. Can you really expect a child of that age to sit in a car seat for 6 or 7 hours ? Not hardly. As far as sitting by me Sam, don't worry, I'll see you coming a mile away.