CTEASDEL

On an LAX-LHR flight today then couple next two me had twin girls of 18months. At no point did the crew offer them seat belt extensions for them. I always see this on BA/VS. Is it not a legal requirement for everybody to be strapped in?

Worse still the parents let the kids wonder around when the seat belt lights where on and the most amazing thing I saw was that they let them walk about as soon as we touched down, as we where taxing fast.

Does anybody know if UA are supposed to provide belts?

SFO 1K

I've actually seen a Flight Attendant ask a customer to remove a belt where they have it over both themselves and a lap child. However, I do not know what the rules are in regards to this. One of our many FTer who is trained in this regard will surely provide a definative answer.

stratocruiser

Children emphatically cannot be belted in wiht adults.. think about it.. if the pilots slammed on the brakes whilst taxiing the weight of the adult could mash the kid to bits against the seatbelt. Sorry to be graphic.. but there is really no safe way to travel with small kids other than having them in a car seat.

MrMillion

I wholeheartedly agree. No babes in arms or babes on laps should be permitted. One passenger to a seat.

Leisuremiles

"I wonder as I wander".

l etoile

Were these lap children or did they have their own seats? On US carriers children under 2 are allowed to fly on an adult's lap and no they don't get belted in (in the event of a possible crash landing they are even to be placed on the floor). This has been an ongoing debate as to whether it's safer to require children under 2 to have their own seats and be strapped in or for the situation to remain as is. One side argues that if parents are forced to pay for tickets for babies they will take longer driving trips and more children will die in auto accidents. The other side points to small children who've become projectiles and died in otherwise surviveable crashes.

In any event I've been on flights where the FAs have insisted the children be seated in their parents' laps during the situations you describe. I've also noticed foreign-based UA crews seem much more lax on following safety rules than the US-based crews.

Jana

There have been some truly horrific examples of what can happen to babies (lap children) in an aircraft emergency. However, even routine turbulence can have a negative impact on adults not strapped in. (Many, many injuries to FA's in the line of duty while not strapped safely into their jumpseat and to psgrs who ignore the warning.)
I believe that tickets for children 2yrs. and under are 50% off. These should be purchased and car seats brought along for inflight use. Any person traveling alone with a baby can get assistance from a skycap (please tip a buck or two) to the gate and always get assistance from a GA upon boarding if it's needed. (You won't be pre-boarded in most circumstances, but you will have assistance.)
It should be a policy. (and- I hate that word!)

Bear96

There is some confusion over this topic because there is a difference between policies and procedures on European and American carriers.

With many European carriers (maybe it is a JAA regulation) it is common to have parents buckle in children on their laps with an additional belt that is totally separate from their own. In other words, the parent is buckled in with the main belt, and there is a separate belt attached to that, so that the parent does not smash the child into the single belt. There are two separate belts, each designed to absorb its own load, that of the parent and that of the child respectively. Think of a figure 8-- the parent is in the bottom loop of the 8; the child in the top. (Hope I described that well enough.)

(Note also that this is different from the traditional use of the term "seat belt extension" in the USA which refers to an extender to the original belt, still resulting in one belt once attached (but with two segments), which is generally offered to very obese people who cannot fit in the original belt. Think of a very big 0 made up of two seat belts clipped together.)

US carriers, on the other hand, have decided (or maybe it is an FAA regulation, not sure) that it is safer for parents to simply hold small children on the parents' lap with no belt.

On UAL, and I suspect on other US carriers, we simply don't have the child attachment belt available. Which believe me has led to some unpleasant encounters with parents who are used to the European method and think I am either lying or stupid (or both) when I try to explain this to them when they ask for the child attachment belt!

l etoile

In 1996 the FAA banned anything other than approved car seats for takeoff, landing and taxi. There are private companies that sell the vests similar to what you describe European airlines as offering and supposedly you can use those during the cruise portion of the flight. I saw one of these on the Today Show recently. I think it was this one. http://www.babybair.com/product.htm

JS

Why would pre-boarding be unavailable in this situation?

RichardMEL

On a recent trip on TG I noted the F/A's wanted the babies strapped into seperate seats - no babies in arms, or to be stapped in with the adult (as discussed above). Indeed I was surprised as I'd never seen this level of safety concern out of TG in the past.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

GGpillow

Not agreeing or disagreeing here, simply clarifying that, the company's position, is that we offer pre boarding for those with disabilities, and, having a child, is not a disability. (Don't yell at ME for being insensitive, just relaying the info)

And yes, in practice, many csr's ignore this rule, as I am quite sure many of you have seen in your travels.

skofarrell

We've always bought seats for our three kids when traveling. My justification has always been: "Is your child's safety worth saving a few hundred dollars?"

LarryJ

The child attachment belt works well in moderate turblulance or minor "quick stops" but in a serious deceleration (think crash test dummy video) the adult will double-over crushing the baby while the baby causes serious internal injuries to the adult.

The safest place for a baby is to be strapped into an aircraft-approved child seat in his own seat. Anything else is a compromise and no single compromise solution provides a clear advantage in all scenarios which is why different regulator agencies have come up with different rules.

erik123

It is my understanding that this is the reason why lap-belts are not legal on US flights. This does not apply to c and f seats because they can't fold forward.