Originally Posted by
GBeckman
Yeah, it should be a check-in issue, not sure why the FA would even care!
We flew with DS at 4.5 weeks and were never asked for any kind of proof of age. Heck, he flew at least 4 or 5 times that first year or so and we were never asked. Starting at about 15 months, we got him his own seat so we could strap him in his carseat (both for safety and sanity!) so there hasn't been a question since we're paying for the seat anyway.
Flight Attendants "care" because it's a
personal fine from the FAA if we break the rules. But I agree that that should be handled at the desk but they often were lazy. A few times we would contact the desk and confirm (before confronting the passenger) "Did you check the lap baby in 32G?"
I must admit that I disagreed with some of the "checks" we were supposed to do during boarding. I told a FAA agent that F/A's shouldn't have to check whether a seat is FAA approved, for example. That should also be done at check-in, or at worst, at the gate, not actually on the darned airplane!
One woman on our flight didn't speak English and the baby had been under two when they had left for the U.S. We knew this woman wasn't trying to "get away" with this, just misinformed probably by an agent in her home country. We bugged the gate agents, jiggled around a few passengers (mostly pass riders) and got an extra seat for the kid. Technically, she was supposed to pay for that seat but we felt sorry for her but couldn't so blantently break the rules and risk the fine (on our tiny salaries!)
If the baby looks well below the age 2 limit, than they probably wont even ask.