# Airplane Tall Tale - Domestic flight where passengers prevented from using restrooms for 8 hours? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099 "2019-01-20T06:50:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/41 "2019-10-11T02:27:28Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I don’t know for sure, but I expect that it’s not a high risk due to the fact that you’re going to be holding on pretty tight in the case of turbulence and balancing that relatively low risk against the distress and discomfort that the infant and everyone in earshot would experience if they had to be strapped into their own seats the whole time. They don’t need to be strapped into their own seat, they just need to use a loop belt that attaches them to their carer. > [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I think the rationale is that if it’s more expensive for families with babies to fly, some of them will just drive, and adding another car to the road is way more dangerous than putting a loose baby on a plane. That doesn’t explain why US airlines don’t provide infant lap belts. The baby doesn’t need to be loose. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/42 "2019-10-11T16:15:33Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > They don’t need to be strapped into their own seat, they just need to use a loop belt that attaches them to their carer. Ah, yeah, that seems like an obviously good idea and I don’t know why the US doesn’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/43 "2019-10-11T17:07:29Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > That doesn’t explain why US airlines don’t provide infant lap belts. The baby doesn’t need to be loose. It costs money to make them not-loose. I don’t think the FAA is considering whether some parents will choose alternative (and possibly more risky) forms of travel; likely they are only only considering whether the fleet-wide cost of adding infant restraints is justified by the expected number of lives that will be saved. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/44 "2019-10-12T04:34:02Z")
I bumped my head on the ceiling of a plane once, on my way to the rest room. Turbulence is serious stuff. LOL! I only needed to pee worse once I’d stood up again though, so I kept my date with the lavatory. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/45 "2019-10-12T09:01:47Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > It costs money to make them not-loose. I don’t think the FAA is considering whether some parents will choose alternative (and possibly more risky) forms of travel; likely they are only only considering whether the fleet-wide cost of adding infant restraints is justified by the expected number of lives that will be saved. It costs money for any seatbelt, why does an infant miss out? Also they can double as belt extenders for large people. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/46 "2019-10-13T21:24:59Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > likely they are only only considering whether the fleet-wide cost of adding infant restraints is justified by the expected number of lives that will be saved. The fleet-wide cost of this would be… pretty small in the scheme of things. You wouldn’t even have to have all planes equipped with them. Just give one to each of the parents with lap-infants as they’re getting on the plane and collect it when they get off. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2019, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/47 "2019-10-13T22:06:28Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > The fleet-wide cost of this would be… pretty small in the scheme of things. You wouldn’t even have to have all planes equipped with them. Just give one to each of the parents with lap-infants as they’re getting on the plane and collect it when they get off. WAG: someone, somewhere, in the US airline industry decided that that sort of infant lap belt might be a lawsuit waiting to happen (i.e., if a parent used it incorrectly and wound up somehow injuring their child), and decided it wasn’t worth the potential liability. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/48 "2019-10-14T16:47:49Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > WAG: someone, somewhere, in the US airline industry decided that that sort of infant lap belt might be a lawsuit waiting to happen (i.e., if a parent used it incorrectly and wound up somehow injuring their child), and decided it wasn’t worth the potential liability. I don’t think that’s right. The FAA is presumably the body that would make the decision to require them and they are going to be immune to such lawsuits. I expect it’s just some combination of bureaucratic inertia and the fact that the FAA is an _extremely_ conservative institution. Sadly, until some poor infant flies out of someone’s hands and dies, they’re not likely to see this as a problem that requires a change. And they could be right about that. How many millions of lap infants fly a year? Has any ever died due to this? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099/49 "2019-10-14T17:27:09Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I don’t think that’s right. The FAA is presumably the body that would make the decision to require them and they are going to be immune to such lawsuits. > > I expect it’s just some combination of bureaucratic inertia and the fact that the FAA is an _extremely_ conservative institution. Sadly, until some poor infant flies out of someone’s hands and dies, they’re not likely to see this as a problem that requires a change. And they could be right about that. How many millions of lap infants fly a year? Has any ever died due to this? _nods_ Upon reflection, I suspect that the truth is closer to what you note here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-tall-tale-domestic-flight-where-passengers-prevented-from-using-restrooms-for-8-hours/828099.md?page=2)