I've always wondered this...statistically-speaking, is it really safer? That is, if I have $150 to allocate towards a child-safety-related cause for my 1-year-old, is it logical and wise to use it on buying him/her an airline ticket? Or should I spend it on some other child-safety-related product?

(This assumes a finite amount of total funds and a finite number of airplane trips. Clearly, if my pool of available funds is infinite, then I buy the kid a seat...I mean, if I allow him to leave his bubble in the first place. )

I've heard both sides. One, flying with a lapchild is definitely safer than driving. Two, buying the seat is actually a poor use of funds - your kid has a 1-in-billions chance of getting hurt as a lapchild in a manner where he wouldn't have in a carseat, and there are so many other everyday areas around your house where you should spend that money.

I haven't seen extensive data supporting either position... When our kid was under 2, we sometimes bought the seat and sometimes didn't. It was always a more comfortable flight knowing that we had an extra seat guaranteed, so on trips to visit family where our dates were very flexible, we'd just find the cheap fares and buy the extra ticket.