So do everyone here thinks the same way, if you can't pay for the baby's air ticket you don't fly?
I may be the only one here with this opinion, but no, I do not think that people who can't afford a ticket for the baby should be forced to choose between staying home or driving.
I think it's over the top to be so worried about very small risks that you stay home. It doesn't make mathematical sense. Your baby is safer sitting in your lap on a plane than crawling around your house at home.
Your baby is also safer sitting in your lap on the plane than strapped into a car seat in your car on the freeway.
Don't get me wrong, I
always encourage parents to buy tickets for their babies and take the car seats on the plane. I totally understand that a few babies are injured each year and, rarely but occasionally, one dies as a direct result of being a "lap baby." I have also flown with my baby and I don't know how I could have kept my sanity if we didn't have our car seat on board the plane, since it was a long flight. If you can figure out a way to afford a ticket for the baby, do it. If you can't, do everything you can to claim a "free" seat for the baby -- try to book flights that are least likely to be full, and always bring your car seat to the gate with you in the hopes that there will be a seat you can use.
In no way would I ever argue that it's just as good or even almost as good to have a lap baby.
But I still feel that not going on a plane just because you
really really can't afford one more ticket for the baby makes about as much sense as not going for a walk because you might get hit by a car. Sometimes we just have to balance the risks and benefits of the things we do and recognize that sometimes there are things we do in life that we decide are work the risks involved.