Air travel with infants: airlines call for changing rules for safety
Traveling with children under 2 years of age often comes with benefits from airlines, such as a free or discounted child ticket. Consequently, parents tend to hold their babies on their laps during flights. However, the industry association is calling for an end to this booking practice for safety reasons.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warns against traveling with infants in the parents' arms, citing safety concerns. The agency emphasizes that the safest place for a child under the age of two on a US airplane is in an approved child restraint system (CRS) or device. According to Travel+Leisure, parents may not be able to securely hold their child on their lap, especially during unexpected turbulence, which is a leading cause of childhood injuries on airplanes.
"We've recently witnessed airplanes experiencing turbulence and dropping 4,000 feet in an instant," Sarah Nelson, International President of the CWA, told the Washington Post. She added, "The G-forces are something even the most loving parent cannot shield their child from. It is simply physically impossible."
In light of these concerns, Nelson informed the newspaper that the union is advocating for a rule change mandating that all passengers have their own seat with a booster seat, regardless of age—a matter raised by the union at the Federal Aviation Administration's safety summit in Northern Virginia the previous week.
Nelson expressed ongoing distress over the tragic memories of the 1989 crash landing in Iowa, during which three infants were injured and one child died. "Regrettably, this has been a priority for our union for over 30 years," Nelson stated in an interview with the newspaper. She emphasized the need to ensure children's safety on airplanes by providing them with their own seats and proper restraints to prevent such tragedies from recurring.
For older children, the Department of Transportation is urging airlines to offer families the option to sit together for free. This initiative includes the launch of an online family seat dashboard detailing the policies of the 10 largest US airlines. So far, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Alaska Airlines have committed to the DOT's request by incorporating this guarantee into their customer service plans.