Originally Posted by
BillScann
I think its pretty clear why most airlines don't use them: baby lap belts are a quick, effective way to help strangle your infant to death. If the baby is neither perfectly upright nor sitting with excellent posture on your lap when wearing this belt, then there's a percentage chance greater than zero of strangling your kid.
I used it once. After that, I covered my little guy up with a blanket while holding him and lied to the FA when she came by to confirm I was using the belt.
I'm not sure about "most airlines" -- it seems that FAA-governed airlines do not use them, but otherwise, most major carriers do.. a bit of poking on the internet shows references to LH (
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326162 last post), BA, SQ, QF providing and/or insisting on the use of lap belts. (For people who have never seen these, they are *not* an extension to your own belt, but form a separate loop threaded through your belt, effectively anchoring the baby to your belt).
I don't know about strangling: if you fasten the belt around the baby's waist (with the baby either vertical or horizontal) it would be v. hard IMHO for it to ride up around their neck. (More likely they would slip out the top, in fact).
I can understand bookworm's point about the adult crushing the baby in a severe deceleration, but I don't see how this would be any different if you were holding the baby. Bill - some questions, if you don't mind: in what position did you hold the baby? Would it have been possible to attach a lap belt to the baby in this position? Would that position eliminate the risk of crushing in the manner bookworm described?
Thanks all...