Originally Posted by
vicarious_MR'er
Not speaking for the other poster, but if a person isn't buying their child a seat, it's not a leap to assume that $ is a big motivating factor for these people.
Yes, someone out there can be simultaneously motivated by $ and still pay an extra $30 PP for a better routing, but it's unlikely to find people for whom money is no object AND who take lap infants along for the ride on long-haul.
I think the percentage of people for whom money is no object on commercial aircraft is pretty close to zero. Indeed, if money is no object, then there is no reason to go through the hassle of flying commercial.
I think people who bring lap kids do so for a variety of reasons. We usually buy a seat for our daughter (she has AA status because of it), but it doesn't always make sense. When we adopted her and needed to fly when she was 10 days old, our adoption agent recommended that we not buy her a seat because it's easier to keep her close and away from people who might reach down to touch her. And I am on a trip right now where we chose to bring our daughter as a lap child, because the flight was only an hour long and there are two of us to manage her. We are both very frequent travelers and buy the whole spectrum of fares, we have each had status for many years, and yet we still occasionally choose to take our daughter as a lap child.