FLIGHT attendants have warned parents about having young children on their laps during flights, which they say can be dangerous or even fatal.
Parents can get cheaper flights if they don’t pay for their kids to have a seat, and instead have them on their lap, but it might not be the safest option.
Cabin crew members in America want to ban parents from doing it, saying that unexpected turbulence could be unsafe for any child sat on a parent’s knee.
Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA told the Washington Post: “We’ve seen airplanes go through turbulence recently and drop 4,000 feet in a split second.
“The G-forces are not something even the most loving mother or father can guard against and hold their child. It’s just physically impossible.”
The association is hoping to bring in new rules that would require all passengers, regardless of age, to have their own seat, with a seatbelt of their own, to ensure they’re kept safe.
It’s not the first time the union has tried to change the rules either.
In fact, since 1989, when three infants suffered injuries and another died during a crash landing in Sioux City, Iowa, there have been calls to have children strapped in their own seats.
More people added their voices when a child was killed while sat on her mother’s lap in a crash in Charlotte in 1994.
Nelson added: “Sadly this has been more than a 30-year priority for our union. We must have children safe on the plane and in their own seats with a proper restraint device to make sure it never happens again.”
Ben Hoffman, president-elect of the American Academy of Paediatrics told the Washington Post agreed and said that the safest option is for all passengers to have their own seat and belt.
Some parents will opt to have their kids sitting on their lap for the entirety of a flight, as a way to save money on seats.
Currently, in the UK, children under two can sit on parents’ knees on planes.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has said that kids older than two-years-old are required to have their own seat, as they are bigger and could be injured if they are on a parent’s lap.
They told Sun Online Travel last year: “Infants under the age of two need to be secured whenever the seat belt sign is on.
“This can be achieved through the use of a seat belt loop provided by the airline to secure the infant on an adult’s lap, or by using a child restraint device, i.e. car type seat, or an alternative provided by the airline.
“Passengers travelling with small children should contact their airline to discuss the safest option and to ensure that their preferred restraint device is acceptable and appropriate for the aircraft type.”
Meanwhile, a flight attendant has revealed the best plane seats for kids – and why parents with babies should never fly at night.
And a former flight attendant has shared where it is best to sit on a plane if you don’t like screaming babies.
