That rationale is what led the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA to renew efforts to ban lap babies in 2023, with Nelson bringing the issue before an FAA safety summit and in testimony to Congress that year. But even with those efforts, there was no policy change. “America’s aviation system is the safest and most secure in the world, but unsecured children are the most at risk for harm,” Nelson says. “Our aviation system is experiencing a rise in extreme turbulence, which can lead to tragedy for any passenger who isn’t properly secured, but is especially dangerous for infants and toddlers.”
Flight turbulence, which is far more common than any other type of aviation accident, typically shakes a plane in an up-and-down motion, Pruchnicki says. In a severe situation that could result in lap children being flung toward the ceiling and sustaining serious injuries. “Because once again, parents don’t understand the forces that are involved,” he says. “This is why everyone has to be seated with seatbelts on, because [adults] become projectiles as well, and it’s just an underestimation of the amount of energy that’s truly involved in these events.”
Why are lap children still allowed?
The Association of Flight Attendants has been pushing to ban lap babies since the late 1980s, along with other federal safety groups, like the National Transportation Safety Board, which has also recommended ending the practice for decades. “They have flat out advocated for years–emphatically—that this is unacceptable, and should not be what’s allowed,” says Pruchnicki.
But the NTSB doesn’t have the power to make new rules—the board can only investigate and make safety recommendations to the FAA, which then passes new federal regulations. In numerous safety reports, the NTSB has continually recommended that the FAA outlaw flying with lap children. “For more than three decades, the NTSB has recommended that the FAA require children under the age of 2 to be appropriately restrained during takeoff, landing, and during a turbulence encounter,” the NTSB wrote in a 2021 safety research report on preventing turbulence-related injuries. “Over the years, in response to the NTSB’s safety recommendations, the FAA has consistently declined to mandate [child restraint system] usage for children under the age of 2.”
The reasoning to continue allowing lap babies likely comes down to cost, according to Pruchnicki. The FAA has previously argued that the economic burden of requiring parents to buy a ticket for infants will mean young families will opt to drive to their destinations instead—a cheaper alternative, but one that is less safe than flying, according to the statistics. Following this line of thought, requiring parents to purchase infants their own plane seats would result in “a net increase in transportation deaths” by causing more families to drive on highways, the FAA said in a 2011 report.
Although it has not banned lap babies, the FAA does encourage parents to book a separate seat for their children. “The safest place for your child under the age of two on a US airplane is in approved child restraint system (CRS) or device, not in your lap,” states the FAA’s page on flying with children. “The FAA strongly urges you to secure your child in an approved CRS or other approved device for the entirety of your flight. It’s the smart and right thing to do so that everyone in your family arrives safely at your destination.”
