Babyseat blocked recline
#31
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Morris County, NJ
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Posts: 2,305
Look, the airplane is a giant aluminum tube stuffed full of as many people as they can cram in.
Sometimes, we all have to "take one for the team" so to speak. Especially when it comes to little ones. Just like riding on a city bus - sometimes you're stuck with the seat over the wheel well, and your feet get cramped up. Just how it is.
Thankfully, the human psyche offers an innate protective instinct towards children - so we tend to accept things like this without complaint because it's for the protection of a defenseless child.
I know you're not complaining per se, but there is no guarantee of reclination. I'll be honest - I don't find the recline very comfortable anyway. In fact, I prefer choosing Row 20 on most flights since I never recline my economy seats anyway - and the row in front of me usually can't recline either. Best of both worlds.
So I ask - please be careful what you complain about. Approaching it as "something you paid for" -- you just might inspire United to assign a value to it... and give them another monetization idea - "Swipe your card to unlock your seat's recline button now!" Clearly the offer of FF miles was a nice gesture on United's part... I'd just let sleeping does lie, lest we open Pandora's box here.
Sometimes, we all have to "take one for the team" so to speak. Especially when it comes to little ones. Just like riding on a city bus - sometimes you're stuck with the seat over the wheel well, and your feet get cramped up. Just how it is.
Thankfully, the human psyche offers an innate protective instinct towards children - so we tend to accept things like this without complaint because it's for the protection of a defenseless child.
I know you're not complaining per se, but there is no guarantee of reclination. I'll be honest - I don't find the recline very comfortable anyway. In fact, I prefer choosing Row 20 on most flights since I never recline my economy seats anyway - and the row in front of me usually can't recline either. Best of both worlds.
So I ask - please be careful what you complain about. Approaching it as "something you paid for" -- you just might inspire United to assign a value to it... and give them another monetization idea - "Swipe your card to unlock your seat's recline button now!" Clearly the offer of FF miles was a nice gesture on United's part... I'd just let sleeping does lie, lest we open Pandora's box here.
#32
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 30
Can we get a breakdown on if all the children of age would have been in car seats, if there may have been anymore deaths? No way to know that it would have helped, or hurt others. Or maybe those children that did survive would have been added to the casualty count as they would have been in seats instead of on the floor. I can think of quite a few plane crashes where no one survived.
#33
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Car seats restrain the infant in a crash, greatly reducing the chance the infant/child themselves becomes a projectile. By your logic, seatbelts should not be mandatory on planes either. Who cares if your head hits the ceiling because you weren’t restrained?
A quick review of reports after various airplane crashes would support a very statistically significant increase in the chance of survival given the wearing of a seatbelt versus not wearing a seat belt.
#34
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: CLE
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This is extremely false.
Car seats restrain the infant in a crash, greatly reducing the chance the infant/child themselves becomes a projectile. By your logic, seatbelts should not be mandatory on planes either. Who cares if your head hits the ceiling because you weren’t restrained?
A quick review of reports after various airplane crashes would support a very statistically significant increase in the chance of survival given the wearing of a seatbelt versus not wearing a seat belt.
#35
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Texas
Programs: Former 1K turned UA Kettle
Posts: 413
Can we get a breakdown on if all the children of age would have been in car seats, if there may have been anymore deaths? No way to know that it would have helped, or hurt others. Or maybe those children that did survive would have been added to the casualty count as they would have been in seats instead of on the floor. I can think of quite a few plane crashes where no one survived.
#36
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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2 Comments:
1. If there is not enough space between the seat containing the approved car seat and the seat in front to fully recline, then the rows are too close together. I'm surprised that the FAA would allow this, but what do I know?
2. I applaud the infant's parents for purchasing a seat for the baby.
1. If there is not enough space between the seat containing the approved car seat and the seat in front to fully recline, then the rows are too close together. I'm surprised that the FAA would allow this, but what do I know?
2. I applaud the infant's parents for purchasing a seat for the baby.
#37
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If your point is that the seat pitch is too low in general, that may very well be something the FAA looks at soon to my knowledge. They may very well implement a requirement that carriers will give seating priority in “extra legroom seats” (if available) to those families with children who will be traveling in car seats. But until they actually implement and enforce a minimum seat pitch rule, there’s no mechanism by which they can do anything of this nature.
#38
Join Date: Jul 2013
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This is one of the few sane posts in this thread.
Infant car seats are rear facing only. They may hinder recline, but that's a necessary evil and approved by the FAA. Calling parents selfish for using it for the duration of the flight is uncalled for. Would you like the child to become a projectile during sudden turbulence?
Infant car seats are rear facing only. They may hinder recline, but that's a necessary evil and approved by the FAA. Calling parents selfish for using it for the duration of the flight is uncalled for. Would you like the child to become a projectile during sudden turbulence?
#39
Join Date: Feb 2004
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What in the world is this supposed to mean?
Ex-attendant, Crash Survivor Lobbies For Child-safety Seats - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...nes_Flight_232
#40
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: BNA
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Posts: 8,178
Federal regulation requires FAA approved car seats to be accommodated on US airlines so that comes first. How do accomplish this without, sometimes, having is result in limiting the recline of the seats in front of it?
Take a look at the Asiana accident in San Francisco. Everyone on board survived the impact. An unrestrained baby wouldn't have fared very well.
#41
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There is a reason car seats are mandated in (every?) most states for children up to a certain age - yes there are unsurvivable car crashes (T-boning a semi truck, for example) but putting a child/infant in a car seat greatly increases the chance they survive a generally survivable crash.
#42
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Nobody expects a child seat to save every life in every crash - it's about increasing survivability and reducing injuries in at least some situations.
#43
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#44
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14557157
#45
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