I'm a cheapskate parent who sits them in my lap under 2. 1) you usually get a seat anyway, since if there's one open seat on the plane it will be next to you and 2) they make harnesses that strap the kid to you-they aren't going to go flying.

You can't have been on a plane recently if you think there are usually open seats. It all depends on destination and time, of course, but it's a pretty safe bet that most flights you get on now are full up, if not actually oversold. The airlines have had to cut their flights, and so there are the same amount of people on fewer airplanes.

And I've been flying on a regular basis for twenty years. I've seen plenty of 'babies in arms' and I've never once seen the harness.

I don't think it should be a free option to hold your kid. It's dangerous and inconsiderate to the person sitting next to you, because most kids under two with adequate motor function do not like to sit still, especially in Mom's lap, and there's nothing worse than sitting three inches away from a woman trying to wrestle her toddler into submission.

I missed it. Was a child one of those injured? I didn't see that. Help me out here.

I always check my kids with the luggage, that way I'm free to have a drink or two!

I think it depends on the age of the child. Purchasing another seat was never required when my kids were young, and they usually sat me near an empty seat, so I don't recall having to hold a toddler all flight long. But an infant will likely be better off in your arms - at least quieter anyway. Mothers who nurse, especially, will want to hold the infant, and the nursing keeps the baby quiet, especially during pressure changes.

As for safety, if there was turbulence, I'd sure hold the baby tight, and I was strapped in. If it was worse than that, we're all probably dying.

Also, they don't require seat belts on buses. Seems like injuries like this are far more likely on a bus than a plane.

There were probably babies on that plane, and it doesn't say they were hurt. The flt attendant is obviously not strapped down or being held, and the others may have been in the aisle or bathroom, but I think it's rare that a baby would fly out of a mom's arms in that situation.

And, like I said, if so, why not require it on buses or subways? None of us are strapped down. Seems like we're just as likely to be thrown forward in that scenario.

There may not be seatbelts on a subway or bus but there is in cars and you are required to strap your kid in. Why would a plane be any different? Where I live, the buses provide booster seats and seatbelts.

LS - learn some physics.

There have been plenty of tests that show a human can't hold on to a baby-size and baby-weight object during sudden acceleration/deceleration.

If you're holding your baby in your lap, and there's anything resembling severe turbulence (i.e. shit flying all over the cabin), I don't care if you're Mrs. Universe - you aren't holding on to that baby.

Momentum's a bitch. And you're not nearly as strong as you think you are.

Think I'm full of it? Get a 10-pound bag of sand, and try to hold it while you're belted in the passenger seat of the car while someone does a sudden stop from 30 mph.

I'm just saying this must be extremely rare. Parents have been flying holding babies in their arms for decades, yet how many have been hurt? You're acting like babies are flying all over the place all the time. If this were true, every parenting website would have a warning. Parents are usually the first to get hysterical over dangers to their children.

This doesn't mean I'm against strapping them in, but let's not make it sound like more of a threat than it is, like pedophiles lurking around every corner (actually probably more of a threat than your baby hitting the ceiling of an airplane).

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;108/5/1218

"Analysis of aircraft crashes from 1976 through 1979 in which there were fatalities and survivors revealed that unrestrained infant passengers had a relative mortality risk of 5.9 (United States) and 9.6 (worldwide)compared with restrained adult passengers."

On the other hand

http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/airline-infant-safety-seat-rule-could-cause-more-deaths-than-it-prevents-pe/

Suggests that forcing parents to use them and buy a second ticket will lead to an increase in child injury and death since car travel is far more dangerous. Also given that these seats will save 4 children in 10 years the cost per life will be $1.3 billion to consumers.

If you wouldn't hold your kid on your lap in the front seat of a car, why would you do it traveling 10 times as fast?

The reason we do it is because we're in an airplane, surrounded by people, who all hope we'll keep our baby quiet. In a car, you can just let him/her scream, but not in a plane. You can't keep a toddler or infant strapped in every moment. They're going to get fussy and want to be held. Yet, if we leave them there, screaming, you'll all be like "Can't you shut your brat up, you selfish parent?!" So, parents have to weigh the safety issue against the rudeness issue.

In other words, there's a relatively low risk our child will be hurt by turbulence, but there's a very high risk that everyone on the plane will want to strangle us by the end of the flight. :)

The danger to kids seems minimal. I bet more kids die ingesting mouthwash. (I pulled that out of my ass; I don't have numbers on that.)

I don't know many babies who could handle being strapped into a chair for hours at a time without screaming their tiny heads off.

When I took #1 on a flight when she was not yet 3, I not only bought her a seat, I brought along her car seat to strap her in. After maybe an hour, she started getting fidgety, so I took her out, held her, and sang to her, and she fell asleep, so I buckled her back into her seat, and she slept for the rest of the flight. Same thing on the the way home. I can't possibly be the only parent who's done this! It's called common sense. WTF.

"I don't know many babies who could handle being strapped into a chair for hours at a time without screaming their tiny heads off. " I keep Barney, the wiggles, boohbah, or what ever is the child crack of the moment on my iPhone, usually kills the screaming like a power switch. However if you need to move get up etc. you either put the child down in his/her seat or in my lap.

From a safety aspect if the choice is between flying with them in your lap and driving then flying in your lap is safer, and cheaper for the rest of us in the long run. At least under the current system.

That's the thing. You never know when turbulence will occur (though sometimes they announce it), but it might occur in that moment the child is on your lap being calmed so as not to disturb other passengers.

We just can't protect against everything. It's gone beyond common sense into paranoia. Our parents drove with us out of car seats, let us sleep in cribs with lead paint, drink straight from the water hose, and walk to the corner store alone. Potential dangers lurk everywhere, though most are statistically miniscule. This is just another alarmist thing to make parents feel guilty and afraid.

I'd say parents need to try to strap a child in as long as they can, but if you need to hold your fussy baby, the interests of the other passengers should outweigh the relatively small safety threat.

Aviationexplorer.com estimates that on average, 58 airline passengers are injured each year due to turbulence encounters while not wearing their seat belts. I'm not sure where they get that number, but it seems to be in line with other sources. Turbulence isn't always predictable and clear-air turbulence cannot be seen on radar. Several years ago, I was on a flight that encountered wake vortex (a type of turbulence caused by air that has been disturbed by preceding aircraft) while on approach to Atlanta. I recall the plane ascending, rolling sharply to the left, and then descending abruptly. The magazine I was reading hit me in the face, even though I was still holding on to it; I couldn't control my arms to stop it. I distinctly remember the noise of the toilet seat banging back and forth, and a bag of empty drink cans for recycling split open and the cans wound up all over the galley.

As far as infants and the risk, LS has the right idea; restrain them as much as is practical, but let them out of the restraints when necessary. It's probably still less risky than a car trip.

Reminds me of that case with Airtran in Florida in Jan. 2007 with Gerald and Julie Kulesza and their 3-year-old daughter Elly. They were about to return to Massachusetts. The girl was throwing a violent fit, possibly because she'd had ear surgery recently and remembered the pain caused by the last flight's descent. After the girl caused a 15-minute delay (and who knows how many passengers lost their connections as a result), Airtran ordered the parents to get her in her seat, with the belt on - of course - and when they "couldn't," Airtran ordered them off the plane, leaving them stranded. Outraged, the parents went on "Good Morning America" (the kid didn't behave so well during the interview, either) and at some point, Airtran offered them a refund. However, it later turned out that 92 percent of the public, upon hearing the story, joyfully sided with Airtran! (One man said: "From now on, every business trip I make.....Airtran!")

Oh, and guess what? IIRC, both parents were EMTs. And the TWO of them can't hold down ONE screaming kid and strap her in, tying her up if necessary? (They could always say she had a medical problem, whether or not that happened to be true.)

One point I'm trying to make is that 50 years ago or so, chances are the airline would simply have allowed the child to fly unbuckled, because they would assume the parents would have the sense not to sue if their child DID get severely injured or killed as a result. Now, they can't assume that. So kudos to Airtran. (Though reportedly, their personal service is not the best.)

That is just asinine and impractical - for parents and the other passengers. I do pay for the extra seat (for the space) but still end up holding one of them for half the flight. If the little dingy light comes on and I'm holding them, I buckle us together. I would venture that they are more likely to be injured by flying debris, for instance, your laptop.

I once sat, on a four-hour flight, next to a woman who had a "toddler" on her lap that must have been four years old. Issues of turbulence aside, I didn't enjoy the constant squirming, poking, whining, and general activity of a human being who really needed a seat of his own.

This prompted a discussion with a husband! Our Bean is due in October (assuming all goes well, knock on wood), and next summer we will be visiting America (business and pleasure both). We are definitely buying a seat for Bean. I mean, we need to bring the carseat over anyways. Also, this way we will qualify for more luggage and can stock up on Bean's wardrobe for the next year, assuming the dollar is still low. And we will be more comfortable. Everyone wins.

Here is a longer article with references

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/mcgee/2008-07-29-lap-children_N.htm

All the excuses offered above are exactly the same as people who fought against carseats. Simple physics proves them wrong.

Dena raises a very interesting point... my laptop weighs about as much as an infant does, and it's a more concentrated mass. I would be willing to fasten it, say, to the tray table, if there was a practical way to do that. Hmmm...

Well, if you don't mind babies and toddlers screaming at the top of their lungs because they're trapped in a carseat for hours, then go ahead and make it mandatory. Tell every parent they're careless if they even touch that buckle throughout the entire flt because their kid may hit the ceiling!

But don't complain about the noise. I don't want to hear how that rude mom didn't remove her child from the carseat, so you could have some peace and quiet. I mean, she's protecting her precious child from turbulence, so how dare you?

And say one buys the kid a seat, and keeps them buckled in the entire time, except when Jr needs to pee. And THEN you hit turbulence? Air flying is safer than driving and we do that daily. There is only so much one can (or should) do to keep people safe, and I think we've bout gotten there with air travel, as is. And I say that as a mom who still has her (40 lb) 6 year olds in actual carseats with 5 pt harnesses.

When I was USAF the military and their spouses could fly space-A (space available) on USAF aircraft. These were flights that were already going there anyway but had empty seats. If you were traveling with small kids, and they were short on seats you had an option to get a strap to hook the kid to you. But you could not fly with an unrestrained kid.

One flight from Florida to Denver convinced me that buying a seat for an infant is well worth it. My husband and I and our first child were seated in a row together, with our daughter buckled into her infant car seat in her own, purchased airline seat (she was 9 months old at the time). Across the aisle from us was a couple and baby I knew from "Mommy and Me" class at the gym. They were holding their 9 month old daughter and another passenger was seated in the 3rd seat.

It was a horribly turbulant flight. My acquaintances were nervous wrecks as they struggled to keep a tight grip on their squirming child. The baby screamed they entire time and BOTH the Mom and Dad were blinking back tears. They arrived in Denver exhausted and miserable, arms aching from clutching their child.

My child slept for much of the flight, and was content when awake (except for a little fussiness during the descent) After that, I never even considered flying without buying a seat for my young kids.

Thank you so much for posting this, Amy! I always buy a seat for my children, even when they were younger than 2. They were always comfortable in their car seat. I also have a harness (for toddlers) by "Kids Fly Safe" (dot com) that is FAA approved and attaches to the back of the child's plane seat and seat belt. It's been a godsend. The harness the other poster mentioned, that attaches to the parent, (I believe) is NOT approved for take off and landing.

Yes, it is more expensive to buy a ticket for a child instead of just placing them on your lap. But I could never forgive myself if one of my children got injured because I was cheap. And guess what? Flowers for a child's funeral cost more than a plane ticket. Trust me, I know.