Last year, my wife gave birth to our first child. Naturally—being the airline dork that I am—it wasn't long before we ended up on an airplane with him, but I wasn't quite prepared for the incredibly vague rules that exist when it comes to infant travel. Here are some of the things I've learned.
If your child is under two years old, you don't need to buy a seat.
On domestic trips, your child can travel for free, but internationally it may cost as much as ten percent of the adult fare. On most shorter-haul flights, your infant will have to be in your arms the entire time. On some longer haul airplanes, there are seats on the bulkhead with bassinets available but those aren't guaranteed in advance.
Just because you can bring your infant for free doesn't mean you should.
It seems very strange that the rules around restraints are so strict for children in cars, yet the FAA is very loose when it comes to flying. One reason is that the chance of a car getting into an accident is huge compared to the incredibly minor chance on an airplane. But it doesn't take an accident to harm your child. Turbulence injures people far more often, and it nearly always injures people who aren't belted in. Your child becomes a flying projectile unless there's a proper restraint. That's why the FAA spokesperson Alison Duquette says "we encourage parents to buy the extra ticket."
If you buy a seat for your child, see if the airline offers a discount.
This is more common internationally, but Southwest does offer a domestic infant fare that is discounted off the full fare amount. (Sometimes it's not a great deal.)
If you buy a seat for your child, a car seat isn't required.
If you have a seat for your child, you'd think a car seat would be required, right? According to Duquette, "[FAA] rules do not say specifically that you have to use a child safety seat if you purchase a ticket for a child under two." So, um, how does that work? I'll let Alison explain in more detail:
"I checked and, as I suspected, our rules do not say specifically that you have to use a child safety seat if you purchase a ticket for a child under two. However, …the airline's policies and procedures, approved by the FAA, would instruct a flight attendant to tell the adult to remove the unrestrained child from the aircraft seat (if there is no approved restraint) and hold the child on his/her lap for takeoff and landing.... Placing a child under 40 pounds in a seat with no restraint, or worse…trying to use a lap belt, may be more dangerous than having a lap child."
If you do bring a car seat, make sure it's an FAA-approved one.
That's right. The FAA may not require these seats be used, but it does have a stamp of approval on car seats that can be used on the airplane. Make sure you have a seat that is approved.
When you install the car seat, use the directions as given by the manufacturer.
In general, that means it should be rear-facing up to 20 pounds and forward-facing up to 40 pounds. But don't let anyone at the airline tell you their version of the proper way to do it. We had a flight attendant tell us that car seats weren't allowed to face backwards on airplanes, and that wasn't true.
If you don't want to schlep a car seat across the country, there is another option.
If your child is under 40 pounds, you can still restrain your child without a car seat. TheCARES safety harness has been approved by the FAA to do just that. It costs $75, but will make traveling much easier.
The first time we flew with our child, we had him on our lap and I hated it. Ever since, we've always purchased a seat and brought the car seat onboard to restrain him. Next time, we're going to try the CARES harness.
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