Flight attendants want to ban lap-babies on planes

When the seat belt light blinks on, every passenger buckles up except for one group of fliers: lap-babies. Unrestrained children sharing a seat with their parents are exempt from the safety mandate, presenting a growing concern amid recent incidents of severe turbulence. “We’ve seen airplanes go through turbulence recently and drop 4,000 feet in a split second,” said Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. “The G-forces are not something even the most loving mother or father can guard against and hold their child. It’s just physically impossible.” The union is pressing for a rule change that would require all passengers, regardless of age, to occupy an airplane seat with a restraint. Currently, children under 2 can fly free on their parents’ laps. The AFA-CWA raised the issue Wednesday at the Federal Aviation Administration safety summit in Northern Virginia and has submitted its list of priorities, including “a seat for every soul,” to Congress. Legislators are in the process of crafting an FAA reauthorization bill, which expires in September. The union submitted the same recommendation during the last round of reauthorization in 2018. The tragedy that haunts Nelson occurred in 1989, when United Flight 232 crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa. Following protocol, the flight attendants instructed the parents to wrap their unbuckled babies in blankets and place them on the floor. Three of the infants suffered injuries, and one died. “Sadly this has been more than a 30-year priority for our union,” Nelson said. “We must have children safe on the plane and in their own seats with a proper restraint device to make sure it never happens again.”<br/>