Is it unsafe to fly without a carseat?

Not safe.

I would never fly without a seat for DD. She's over 2 now so she has to have a seat, but when she was under 2 we got her a seat and took our Marathon with us. She slept both flights.

I have been in "moderate" turbulence where there is no way I could have kept hold of a child. I could barely stay in my seat with the lap belt. I also hit an air pocket once while flying and we dropped about 500 ft. Everything hit the ceiling. A lap baby would have been seriously injured.

Not safe. Like the PP said, turbulence and drops can cause a lot of problems on a flight, and a lap baby isn't restrained at all.

Plus, the other main problem are runway emergencies, and they mimic auto emergencies, just a lot faster and bigger. Sliding off the runway, landing gear not going down, braking too fast, etc.

We flew without a ticket for Piper for her first 13 months, though we often brought her carseat on and got an empty spot, or gate checked it if we found there were no seats. I think the last time I remember her on my lap she was six months old. We've all been a lot more comfortable with her in her own seat.

Not to mention, when you buy them a seat THEY get miles, AND you get more space underneath because an infant doesn't need their own carryon, you have it. Plus the overhead space allotted to each ticketed person. We've bought Piper tickets with her own reward miles, and she's now big enough to sometimes bring her own carryon onboard and put it under the seat in front of her.

Wendy

We've actually never had Nolan in a carseat on a plane, although we will from now own... We just didn't know any better.

Just wanted to add that there were times when I WISHED that we had our seat - and not just for safety issues. On some long flights, he'd get a little active and want to get out of his seat, stand in his seat, run down the aisle, etc. Of course we wouldn't let him do those things, but we had a hard time and a fussy child because of it. It's like taking a little child and telling them to "sit in that chair and don't move for three hours". But, when he's in his carseat, he knows he's not getting out until we get where we're going. So I think he would've accepted his fate and been calmer had he been restrained.

Just another reason for a carseat, especially if you're travelling alone without someone else to help you keep an active toddler in their seat

I have heard that the only reason the FAA doesn't mandate carseats and tickets for kids under 2 is that if they do, more people will choose to drive rather than fly. And since death rates are higher for traveling by car than by plane, more people would actually die if they *did* pass the regulation. But that doesn't mean it's safe to travel that way.

We have always bought a ticket when flying with our kids as infants, so I've never actually flown with a "lap child". It does look much more tiring that way! I also just can't get my mind around buckling myself in while holding an unbuckled child on my lap. I know the extra ticket can be tough to swing financially, but this has always been a budget priority for us.

Thanks for your responses ladies ,I will definantly be buying my kids a ticket so they can use thier carseats from now on...

By the way Ds wasn't unbuckled I buckled him in with me thinking he was safe

twokidstwodogs said:

I have heard that the only reason the FAA doesn't mandate carseats and tickets for kids under 2 is that if they do, more people will choose to drive rather than fly. And since death rates are higher for traveling by car than by plane, more people would actually die if they *did* pass the regulation. But that doesn't mean it's safe to travel that way.

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That's such a cop out on their part. So why not make air travel free in general? I mean, I sometimes drive because flying is too expensive, but if flying were free, I'd fly. A lot safer that way.

If you can't afford to take everyone on the trip (which means paying for everyone) then you can't afford the trip, period. I don't think people will stop flying because they have to buy the ticket. I don't fly because of the price, cheaper, more expensive, or a wash. I fly because driving would take too long and be more annoying.

We didn't buy a seat for Charlie for our flight to NY in November, because we knew there would be an empty seat. It was early on a Saturday morning (slowest time) and we bought our tickets only two weeks beforehand with less than 30% of the flight sold out. I called every other day or so to see how many seats were left, and if it ever got critical I would have bought him a seat. As it is, the plane was empty. Really empty. We had complete rows to ourselves. We did buy him one for the return flight, though, because we knew there probably would not be a seat left. We were right, that flight was PACKED!

Splash said:

That's such a cop out on their part. So why not make air travel free in general? I mean, I sometimes drive because flying is too expensive, but if flying were free, I'd fly. A lot safer that way.

If you can't afford to take everyone on the trip (which means paying for everyone) then you can't afford the trip, period. I don't think people will stop flying because they have to buy the ticket. I don't fly because of the price, cheaper, more expensive, or a wash. I fly because driving would take too long and be more annoying.

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It's not always the airfare that stops people from flying, it's the expensive car rental when you get where you need to be

DH & I have officially cancelled our NJ trip that we were going on in 6 weeks because whether we drove or flew, the bare minimum cost to/from would be $1100 for all expenses. Flying (8 hours process/travel time) & driving (26+hours) were only within $50 of one another. In fact, car rental for 2 weeks would be more than 3 tickets from Dallas to Philly. That plus kenneling our dogs was just too much for a trip currently.

This country is just too big, especially in the south -> North direction!