Airplane Tall Tale - Domestic flight where passengers prevented from using restrooms for 8 hours?

[Richard_Pearse]

@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.

[iamthewalrus_3]

@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.

[Machine_Elf]

@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.

[TruCelt]

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.

[Richard_Pearse]

@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.

[iamthewalrus_3]

@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.

[kenobi_65]

@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.

[iamthewalrus_3]

@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?

[kenobi_65]

@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.