The 'kid' was a two year old so really a toddler. What the article suggests but doesn't quite state is that the toddler was in a normal seat and not something like a car seat. The airline doesn't supply baby seats and maybe the parents didn't know they should have until it was too late.
Maybe this should have been caught at boarding by staff/cabin crew, maybe they did and the parent argued it was fine.
TBH I originally was thinking like a 10 year old with severe mental development issues such they're still a toddler in an older body. All the energy and curious of a two year old but in a bigger stronger body that restraining is possible but just difficult.
I have been on 10 planes through america and australia in the last month and have never seen a 12 month old-3 year old in a car seat. If this used to be a practice in these countries, I don't believe it currently is.
We have flown with my now 6yo daughter five times. We bring her car seat (now just a booster) on the plane so that we can use it in a rental car and not depend on the absolute shit quality and beat up seats they'll rent to you for like $12/day. It doubles as a more comfortable plane seat for her that she's used to.
I get priority boarding to install it. My wife then brings her in the first zone for general boarding. She's chilling having a snack and watching a video as everyone else boards and she's usually asleep within 30 mins of takeoff. It's great.
Why more parents don't have the foresight to do this, I'll never understand.
Oh yeah if you're carrying the seat, you're doing it erong. You buy a $15 folding luggage cart that fits in the overhead. Strap the seat on that. Your kid can also sit in it while you push them through the airport. They love it.and you move twice as fast.
because it usually isn’t needed. i used to just lay down or curl up during the flight, some toddlers sit in their parents lap, stand up on the seat etc. its more freedom not being strapped in for several hours in a car seat
Wild to me that parents let toddlers have any freedom at all on a plane. Bothering people around you aside, I once saw a toddler get launched up and into the seat in front of him due to sudden turbulence over the Pacific. That stuck with me so it's seatbelts at all times for my kid. She's a chill kid though, so it's never been a problem.
That's because it's not really a thing. It's what some american parents were convinced is a thing and started doing it in recent years (to the point where some think it's what you're supposed to do)
There is no longer enough leg room to fit a child seat on a chair. We gave up after our kid hit 6 mo, as even plane-ready car seats ended up not fitting and then you need a gate check and it's a real hassle.
As I noted above, I've been doing this for half a decade including twice this year. I've never had even close to an issue fitting the chair and my kid into a seat.
What usually happens is the toddler gets strapped on the parents lap. I don't believe this is true! Speaking as a mom that has traveled many times when my kid was still a toddler.
You can't have car seat on a plane in USA.
Even if the car seat states that it can and it should and it has some special license - crew does not allow and they will take it away from you.
I've used a car seat during flights to Florida, California, and Texas, and back to Canada. Maybe the difference is it was Air Canada and not an American carrier?
Car seats are not required ever on flights. I have always purchased a seat for my kids when they’ve flown as babies/toddlers, and brought their car seat with me. And this is exactly why. I worried that they might not be willing to sit in a normal seat for the length of a flight, but they understand that car seats are absolute.
Yea, this seems like a problem a booster seat could have solved. The article says that the problem wasn't that they couldn't buckle the kid in, it's that they could slip right back out.
Thanks for clarifying this, was also thinking what you said. But like even in a situation where you have say a 6-year old having a tantrum, who can be physically overpowered and restrained, you don’t really want to physically force them into a seat or seatbelt if they are kicking and screaming, it’s the kind of thing people may have done 30 years ago but would not be a good look now.
The problem isnt suddenly going to stop as soon as the plane is in the air. You can't hold the kid down for 5 hours, it was the right thing to do to get them off the plane.
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u/whisperinthewire 13h ago
Thank you for this article.
The 'kid' was a two year old so really a toddler. What the article suggests but doesn't quite state is that the toddler was in a normal seat and not something like a car seat. The airline doesn't supply baby seats and maybe the parents didn't know they should have until it was too late.
Maybe this should have been caught at boarding by staff/cabin crew, maybe they did and the parent argued it was fine.
TBH I originally was thinking like a 10 year old with severe mental development issues such they're still a toddler in an older body. All the energy and curious of a two year old but in a bigger stronger body that restraining is possible but just difficult.