Do Infants Need Their Own Seats on Airplanes?

While cheap travel, be it cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages, remains readily available in the U.S., infants under the age of two are able to fly even cheaper since they are allowed to fly free on domestic flights so long as they sit in their guardians laps. When you think about this it seems strange considering that parents know not to drive infants anywhere without first securely strapping their children in appropriate safety seats.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) all advocate that infants of any age fly in safety seats. So why do so many parents ignore their advice? It probably is due to the cost of flying and the fact that parents must believe there is not much of a risk or airlines would not allow young infants to fly on adults laps.

Experienced fliers know that everything on a plane has to be restrained during takeoffs and landings and during times of turbulence, except for young children sitting in parents laps.

Over 7 million children under the age of two fly on adult laps on domestic American airlines each year. Parents are not required by airlines to purchase a seat for a baby until they turn two years old.

The FAAs position is that by requiring young infants have their own seats on flights that this would significantly increase the price of travel for young families. In turn, the FAA believes that the additional expense would prompt some families to drive instead of fly, resulting in more children highway fatalities.

NTSB points out that the use of infant safety seats in the past has made the difference between young children surviving plane crashes because they were restrained in safety seats whereas other children have been killed while sitting in parents laps even when the parents have survived.

While the NTSB has consistently recommended over the last 15 years that every passenger should their own seat, the final decision is in the FAAs hands. Parents need to keep in mind that there is a difference between what is allowed and what is in their young childrens best interest.