Originally Posted by
jsloan
The FAA has declined to require that infants travel in their own seats, as they've calculated that the increased expense would cause enough families to drive instead of flying that it would be a net negative overall for child safety.
I'm not sure I've seen a ton of defense of the practice, so much as a deference to each family's own budgetary calculus.
This. There is no doubt that lap children are dangerous. They are a 10-30ish pound unsecured (physics overrules even the strongest of parents arms at some point) object that will become airborne in a crash landing or even severe enough of turbulence. But not every passenger has a lap child and therefore it has been allowed as an acceptable risk.
Flying is FAR safer than driving and the number of yearly infant deaths due to being a lap-child pales in comparison to driving. (have there really been any besides the United Iowa crash?) i.e instances were belted passengers survived an event but lap children did not.
So are you taking a risk having a child as a lap infant? Yes. Is it less of a risk than then drive to the airport? Yes.
Originally Posted by
spin88
this is dangerously wrong. Car seats can be held in place, and in nearly all cases are, by seat belts. They are designed for three point harnesses, but can be secured with two, and are designed that way so they can be used in airplanes and in some auto applications (older cars) w/o three point belts. It is sub-optimal.
Many FAs (and not just on UA, but all airlines) can have some weird ideas around the rules on Kids.
Car seats are FAR safer than being a lap child. Airlines should be encouraging rather than discouraging them. I bet it would be revenue neutral to positive, if you allow parents to "upgrade" a lap child to a seat for 50% off adult ticket. Most flights go out with at least 1 empty seat.
Originally Posted by
emcampbe
I don't think anyone suggested it's the captain's duty to personally check all infants on the plane. However, they are the highest authority to make sure passengers are safe, and the FAs are the front line. Far from 'personally checking' infant seats onboard, they are definitely ones that should be brought in during a dispute, which clearly happened in this case.
FAs also shouldn't be enforcing anything based on what 'they think' is policy. If they aren't 110% sure, they should be referencing their manuals, which almost certainly doesn't require car seats to be forward facing.
Made up policy is the worst policy. Don't guess. Check.
Bingo. Captain is the boss of their AC. Period.