Are children safe in the laps of their caregivers on airplanes?The recent Alaska Airlines midair blowout has renewed the conversation among airline safety officials, the FAA, and parents. The next time you fly with your child, you may want to consider your options.
Terrifying Accident Prompts Calls for Caution
According to the New York Post, federal officials are warning parents against holding their infants on their laps while flying after the recent midair blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight renewed fears over what could happen to an unsecured baby.
While all passengers flight crew members survived the flight when a door plug broke off at 16,000 feet, the rapid depressurization, sucked out two cell phones, a seat headrest and the shirt off a teenage boy’s back. Experts said if the plane had not just taken off and the seatbelt sign was not on, the event would have been much worse.
This drew attention to the 3 babies on the plane who were not wearing seatbelts, and sitting in the laps of caregivers. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the flight attendants aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 were immediately concerned about the three babies.
She urged parents to put their children under 2 in their own seats in a Federal Aviation Administration-approved carrier so they are safe in case something like Friday’s terrifying blow-out happens.
“The NTSB has long recommended and the Federal Aviation Administration has long recommended and Alaska Airlines on their website also recommends for caregivers or those accompanying infants under the age of 2 to purchase a seat for that infant and to put them in their own car seat and to strap them in to ensure safety,” she said.
Recommended but Not Required
The FAA’s website states, “The safest place for your child under the age of two on a U.S. airplane is in approved child restraint system (CRS) or device, not in your lap. Your arms aren’t capable of holding your in-lap child securely, especially during unexpected turbulence, which is the number one cause of pediatric injuries on an airplane.
The FAA strongly urges you to secure your child in an approved CRS or other approved device for the entirety of your flight. Buying a ticket for your child is the only way to guarantee that you will be able to use a CRS. It’s the smart and right thing to do so that everyone in your family arrives safely at your destination.”
Still, the FAA does not require children under 2 to be in a CRS and does allow parents to fly with children in their lap. A report in Wired details why this 30 year old debate is still occurring and they found that the choice is not as simple as it seems.
Reporter Nicole Kobie found that the reason the FAA does not require children to travel in CRS is the result of a cost-benefit analysis that found requiring children under 2 would actually result in more child fatalities.
This is because, “in the US at least, requiring families to buy a ticket for infants two and under would push some to drive instead of flying, leading to an estimated increase in total transportation deaths by 72 over a decade. In comparison, requiring child-appropriate seating for under-twos would have prevented three child deaths between 1979 to 2010, a report from the US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) notes.”
Given the data, experts are not convinced that requiring a CRS for children under 2 is worth the possible negative outcomes this inconvenience could cause.
Sarah Barry, deputy head of the School of Aviation and Security at Buckinghamshire New University in the UK notes, “Commercial aircraft accidents are still extremely rare, and the logistics of having infants in specific seats, with the installation of a CRS for every flight, may outweigh the safety aspects.”
Weighing the Risks
Still, airline safety advocates including the the Association of Flight Attendants–CWA union urge parents to consider purchasing a seat and placing their child in an approved child restraint system, which is the safest place for them.
Wired’s Kobie advises, “If you can afford it, take the advice of aviation authorities like the FAA and buy your child a seat, and bring an approved car seat to insert into it. If your budget can’t stretch to an additional ticket for your child, bring a car seat to the airport with you anyway (or, in the US, invest in an approved harness strap for children over 20 pounds or 10 kilograms), and ask at check-in whether there’s a spare seat you could have for free.”
Ultimately, the safest place for your young child is in a car seat; however, if costs prohibit this option, the rare occurrence of infant death and injury during air travel shouldn’t necessarily prohibit parents from traveling with young children in their laps.