Having just made another trip with a baby, we're amazed at how the airline personnel always assume that you didn't buy a seat for them.

On our outbound flight, I had Frances in the seat next to me in the infant carrier and the FA asked me if she was a lap baby or had a ticket. Like I would strap her into a seat that we didn't have a ticket for on a full flight. Then on our flight back, they were putting the gate check tags on the stroller and the gate agent said to put one on the carrier as well. I said we were taking it on the plane, and she replied "it's a full flight, there's not seat for it". The possibility that we had actually bought her a ticket never entered her mind.

I flew with Joe last year when he was one, and when I checked in, the agent asked if it was just me, and I pointed to Joe and said my son was with me as well. She just printed out my boarding pass and handed it to me. She didn't even ask or check to see if he had a seat (which he did).

So I'm really curious - is it really so uncommon to buy a seat for a baby?

Dennis

You know Dennis.... I think it is. We haven't had an occassion to fly yet with Chloe, but if we had when she was an infant she would have ABSOLUTELY gotten her own seat. I'm honestly shocked more people don't do it myself. But from personal experience with friends in my life, and seeing threads on UB etc.... it seems more people choose to have the kiddo's on their laps rather than in a seat.

I've seen too many horror stories on the news about infants being thrown around the cabin during bad turbulence. I think many people use the reasoning that if the plane crashes, chances are a carseat isn't going to be the difference between life or death......which, sadly.....yes is probably true. BUT it CAN be the difference between life and death in circumstances of extreme turbulance.....which is MUCH more common than people realize! And besides the safety reasons..... just not having a baby sitting on my lap for hours, and us having our "own space" to stretch out etc....... would be really nice too!!! :)

Chris

i've only taken tony once on a plane and yes we bought him a seat. i wouldn't even consider holding him! the flight was to orlando and completely full. there were loads of lap kids! and not happy ones either :rolleyes:

i understand that $$ is the major factor in people not buying seats, i feel fortunate that i do not have to think twice about buying one for my kid.

We haven't had the opportunity to fly with Caroline either, but I would never DREAM of not buying her a seat! There are simply too many risks. But would you believe that some catalogs (One Step Ahead, oddly enough, the big cheerleader of child safety) actually sell a "harness" type thing for kids on your laps in airplanes?

I have flown with Abby on several occasions and to be honest, I never thought of buying her a ticket before the last time we flew. After the last experience we had, I will ever NOT buy a ticket for her or any other child! For me, it is not really an issue of saftey but of comfort. Abby was 13 months old the last time we flew and I was sick, she was tired and of course we were by ourselves. It certainly did not make for a comfortable flight...oh and did I mention we were on the runway for 90 minutes before taking off??

I've only flown once with Abby and she lapsat, mainly because it was for work and I had to buy her ticket separately and they couldn't get me one for her next to me and were just pains in the @ss!!! So I decided to just have her lapsit, it went fine, no problems at all, but I know that if we were to fly again I'd prefer for her to have her own seat.

We just flew back from CA, where there were 7 "lap babies" on our flight! I think I only saw two families bring on their car seat. I have to admit, we didn't buy Emma a seat, but we flew first class on miles, so I felt we didn't need one for her. We actually used the One Step Ahead harness that is designed for planes, and it made me feel better about her being on our laps. She was harnessed in pretty much the entire duration of the flight, and DEFINITELY whenever turbulence caused the pilot to turn on the seatbelt sign.

The next time we fly, it will most likely be coach, in which case I will buy her a seat. Emma didn't enjoy having to stay on one of our laps during takeoff and landing, and I think she'd be better off in her own seat.

Ok, so it isn't all that rare. I was just so annoyed because I was standing there holding out 4 boarding passes and they just assumed she didn't have a seat without asking.

To me, it's the comfort more than the safety. I just can't imagine holding a baby on your lap for 4 hours in coach with the guy in front of you reclining his seat in your face.

Nicole, if you can't book the seats together, the gate agents and flight attendants will take care of it either at the gate or on the plane. We couldn't get seats together on our outbound flight and the gate agent was able to get us two and two. Then on our flight home, there was this family with two kids that couldn't get seats together and they just waited until people boarded and the flight attendants moved people around for them.

Dennis

I have taken Daniel on two trips back to WA and he sat in my lap both times. He slept the entire flight, both there and back. Quite frankly, cost was the big issue with me.

Next time we fly though he will be over the age limit for lap babies so I am not sure how often we will go home to see my family.

I totally hear the cost issue!! Flying is just soooo pricey for a family. BTW......... what is the deal when they have to buy a seat. Isn't it supposed to be half price or something like that? I sure hope so.... we'll be flying this summer.

Chris

chris, when we flew southwest they only offer 1/2 off the full fare! it was cheaper for us to buy a regular ticket for him on the web :nod:

As in my other thread, Continental gives half off the cheap fare for babies under 2 buying a seat, but it's regular price for children 2 and up. It's the same deal with the bereavement fares - it's a discount off full fare and you can often find cheaper fares.

Dennis

Cameron is almost 1 year and he has been on 4 air trips (approx 10 flights if you count plane changes) so far. I would never consider buying him a seat. Because we fly so much, it would cost a fortune for him to always have a seat. Besides, now that he is mobile, he wouldn't sit in the seat except for landing and takeoff.

He has never been a problem on flights and we always get tons of compliments on how good and happy he is.

Next time we fly though he will be over the age limit for lap babies so I am not sure how often we will go home to see my family.
A little OT, I used to be a gate agent at Logan Airport and one time a family was checking in. The child was a lap child, but looked quite a bit older. So, I was chatting with the family and some how it came to the child's age. The child blurted out that he was 3, almost 4. His parents quickly told him he was wrong and that he was 2. It was very funny.

Cameron hasn't flown yet, but when he does he will have his own seat. Same with his brother. Part of it is safety, part of it is comfort.

~Kate

Ian has flown three times. At 2 months he was a lap baby (sound asleep in the sling). At 10 months he was a lap baby (was a bit of a handful). That flight convinced me to get him his own seat. When we flew for Thanksgiving he was 13 months and had his own seat. It was so nice! I could strap him into his carseat! Aaaah it was a relief. The airline people didn't really seemed surprised he had his own seat. Especially since we were carting around the big Roundabout. Maybe when they're still in the infant carrier they think that they're a lap baby.

Aidan only flew once, at 9 months, and was a lap baby. We are flying Southwest with them next month, the day after Colin turns 1. Aidan has a seat, Colin does not. Should be interesting to see what happens. Southwest didn't give any discount...

I've flown with Maggie twice. Both times, she was under 6 months old, and was a lap baby. At this point, I know we would have to buy at least one seat for one of the girls.

When I did fly with Maggie, I made a point of choosing flights at less than peak hours so I would be inconveniencing the least number of people. It seemed to work out better for me that way, since Maggie had a seat on 1/2 of the flights.

Rebekah has flown to California and back twice, once at 11 months and once at 17 months. Both times, we did not buy a seat. We couldn't afford it. Luckily, the second time, the flights weren't full and we had 3 seats for all of us.

The next time we go we will have to buy her a seat.

My best friend is a flight attendant and she once mentioned that probably 80% of people with kids under 2 dont buy a seat for the kid. She also spewed off all the horror stories the airline told them about not having kids in seats and what she's personally seen, so when it came time for us to fly, I got Aidan his seat. Granted, we've only flown once, but it was to Cal, which is a 5 hr flight. I cant imagine holding him on my lap that whole time! And in his car seat, he slept the entire flight on the way there & back!

Oh yeah...I got our tix off Orbitz and I only had to pay $90 for his seat...1/2 of our fare.

Karri, thanks for the 80% figure. I thought it would be pretty high, just based on observation.

Dennis

We've flown with Ben now 3 times and only once did we buy him a seat. That time I was flying alone with a 3 month old and wanted to have the extra place for him. Most of the other flights, there was a seat available, but generally the airline employees are not nice about it. Over the holidays, we did hold him a couple of times and it was fine. I would prefer for him to have a seat, but frankly, we're grad students and couldn't afford it.

We've flown Lauryn twice- to the US Virgin Islands and to Belize. Both are international flights. We did not buy her seats both times because we were told that for there were no discounts for these international flights. We would have had to pay $600 for her each time and the flights were about 3 hours on each leg. I can afford to buy her a seat but when I weighed practicality, safety and comfort, and length of the flights, we decided not to buy her a seat. Not to say that we're not worried about her safety because we are- but we ALL get into our cars every single day and that is even more dangerous than flying-- even with a car seat!

I was told that for international flights, the the cost of the a seat for a child under 2 depends on the market- most of the time, you'll still pay 80% of the full fare even with a discount.

We determined that if the flight was over 4 hours and the ticket was under $400, we would buy her a seat. We did get lucky that we were able to get a whole row on our outbound flights so she was in a car seat anyway.

When we flew from NC to IN in August to visit Shel (Chelley00) I bought Morgan her own seat- and I'm soo glad I did! She actually slept part of one of the flights(we had a layover)and I know she wouldn't have slept and been nearly as rested if she had sat in my lap.

We flew once with Emma and I did not buy her a seat but I regretted it afterwards and was unable to get one at that point. So when we went to show up for flight I asked if flight was full and it wasn't so she ended up getting a seat after all on both flights to and from. I got lucky as we didn't have to pay for it but if I have to do it all over again Iwould buy her a ticket/seat.

We've flown 2x with Zoe. First from Oakland to Long Beach and back. Then from San Jose to Cinci OH and back. We didn't buy her her own seat either time. Since we both flew with her, we just switched on and off holding her.

It worked for us.

Katie has flown a ton. Two and a half trips to CA, and one trip to IN. We've never bought her a seat, but she's never not had her own seat. We always fly at off-peak times, and there hasn't ever been a time when she wasn't able to have her own seat for free. The first time she flew, she was only 2 months old, and she was in the Baby Bjorn the whole flight. The other times, she's been in her carseat. Except for our most recent trip to CA, when she sat in the airplane seat without a carseat. On the return trip, we upgraded to first class, and I expected to have her on my lap. But there was no one in the seat next to me, so Katie had her own first class seat for free. :lol: She looked pretty funny in the giant seat all by herself.

If we were going to take a long flight now, we'd definitely get her her own seat. But since we mostly just fly the 1 hour flight home to my parents' house, it's not worth it. She's fine on my lap for that amount of time, and we can usually get her her own seat for free, anyway.

Madelynn has flown with me 3 or 4 times and I never bought her a seat. I guess I'm just cheap. Airline tickets to where we are going are always outrageously priced. I think the biggest reason we would've bought her a seat is because of the tiny planes we have to Denver. She's almost 2, so I guess we will have to now, although I've heard a lot of people lie about their child's age. I couldn't do that.

Maya has never flown before, but we're planning on taking a trip to Salt Lake this summer. Cost is a big factor and she'll probably be a lap baby. (Although she'll be eight months old then and I might weigh my options again before we buy the tickets.) If DH ends up not being able to go, I'll buy her a seat. If it's the two of us, we'll trade off holding her.

The 80% number is very interesting. I travel overseas twice annually for work and am always amazed at how many "lapbabies" there are on those long flights.

We're going to England late summer and have just worked the price of Owen's ticket into the budget. I would never think of putting him into a car without a seat and feel the same way about flying.

Patti