Aircraft child seat advocacy: Why I will Never Surrender
by Jan Brown
A mother’s greatest fear is the loss of a child.
On July 19th, 1989, a mother held her 22-month-old on her lap when flying from Denver to Chicago assuming if it was allowed it was safe. The day was golden, the crew anticipated a smooth and speedy last leg to Chicago and looked forward to their days off. Then everyone’s nightmare erupted when the #2 engine exploded.
A flight attendant attends emergency training every year in hopes they will never use it. This time, we put our emergency procedures into action as a fearful mother clung to her toddler son. After instructing the passengers as we were trained to - seat belts tight, brace position, personal items stowed, brace signal, and helper passengers - I mentally reviewed if all had been covered and realized we had lap children. I proceeded to instruct via the PA system that passengers with lap children should place them on the floor and hold them. It was at that inopportune moment that I was struck with how ludicrous the procedure was, to actually be telling parents to place their most prized tiny child on the floor, to hang on to them as best they could, and in essence to ‘hope for the best!’
We smashed into the earth with a force I could never have imagined, careened down the runway, broke into three sections and the mid-section where I was flipped over upside down and caught fire. We ended up in a cornfield. Miraculously I revived from deep unconsciousness, got people out through an opening and finally was forced by thick, deadly smoke to leave the wreckage. The first person I met was the mother of that 22-month-old boy. She was obviously attempting to return to the wreckage. I blocked her path and she told me she had to return to look for her son to which I replied that there were people who would find him. She then looked up at me and said that I had told her to place her baby on the floor and that it would be alright but he was gone. Numbness was replaced with feeling as I replied that it was the best thing to do, it was all we had. Even then I began to realize my reason for living…that airlines’ policies on lap children weren’t the best, weren’t what they should be, that allowing a child under two years to be a ‘lap’ child resonates with irresponsibility and hypocrisy. It is gambling and the stakes are childrens' lives. And think again if you believe crashes are the only danger; severe turbulence can, and has, torn children from their parents’ grasp and slammed them into ceilings, walls, floors, and seats with unimaginable violence.
The FAA will fine a flight attendant who does not instruct a standing passenger to be seated and fasten their seat belt or does not check seat belts when the sign is illuminated. But that same agency allows our youngest and most vulnerable passengers to sit on an adult’s lap? I was unable to provide safety for ALL passengers on that fateful day but I am able to fight for safety for our youngest passengers until the FAA finally does the job they are mandated to do. Parents need more than an FAA website, of which many are completely unaware, to make a simple statement that they recommend seats for those under two years old. The FAA doesn’t ‘recommend’ that flight attendants assure that their manuals are up-to-date or that flight attendants ‘recommend’ that passengers be seated when the seat belt sign illuminates.
Flight attendants remain unable to fulfill their responsibility of safety for ALL passengers and parents remain unaware of the danger of G-forces in turbulence or the rare crash and therefore unable to provide the ultimate safety for their small child. So for the flight attendant community and for parents who take the chance to fly a small child for free and therefore free to fly through the cabin in turbulence or an accident, I will continue to fight for a mandate. If the law requires children to be in a safe seat in a car traveling 50-70 miles an hour, then WHY allow lap children on planes going 500 MPH?
Infants and toddlers deserve to be safe and protected - everywhere.
On July 19th, 1989, a mother held her 22-month-old on her lap when flying from Denver to Chicago assuming if it was allowed it was safe. The day was golden, the crew anticipated a smooth and speedy last leg to Chicago and looked forward to their days off. Then everyone’s nightmare erupted when the #2 engine exploded.
A flight attendant attends emergency training every year in hopes they will never use it. This time, we put our emergency procedures into action as a fearful mother clung to her toddler son. After instructing the passengers as we were trained to - seat belts tight, brace position, personal items stowed, brace signal, and helper passengers - I mentally reviewed if all had been covered and realized we had lap children. I proceeded to instruct via the PA system that passengers with lap children should place them on the floor and hold them. It was at that inopportune moment that I was struck with how ludicrous the procedure was, to actually be telling parents to place their most prized tiny child on the floor, to hang on to them as best they could, and in essence to ‘hope for the best!’
We smashed into the earth with a force I could never have imagined, careened down the runway, broke into three sections and the mid-section where I was flipped over upside down and caught fire. We ended up in a cornfield. Miraculously I revived from deep unconsciousness, got people out through an opening and finally was forced by thick, deadly smoke to leave the wreckage. The first person I met was the mother of that 22-month-old boy. She was obviously attempting to return to the wreckage. I blocked her path and she told me she had to return to look for her son to which I replied that there were people who would find him. She then looked up at me and said that I had told her to place her baby on the floor and that it would be alright but he was gone. Numbness was replaced with feeling as I replied that it was the best thing to do, it was all we had. Even then I began to realize my reason for living…that airlines’ policies on lap children weren’t the best, weren’t what they should be, that allowing a child under two years to be a ‘lap’ child resonates with irresponsibility and hypocrisy. It is gambling and the stakes are childrens' lives. And think again if you believe crashes are the only danger; severe turbulence can, and has, torn children from their parents’ grasp and slammed them into ceilings, walls, floors, and seats with unimaginable violence.
The FAA will fine a flight attendant who does not instruct a standing passenger to be seated and fasten their seat belt or does not check seat belts when the sign is illuminated. But that same agency allows our youngest and most vulnerable passengers to sit on an adult’s lap? I was unable to provide safety for ALL passengers on that fateful day but I am able to fight for safety for our youngest passengers until the FAA finally does the job they are mandated to do. Parents need more than an FAA website, of which many are completely unaware, to make a simple statement that they recommend seats for those under two years old. The FAA doesn’t ‘recommend’ that flight attendants assure that their manuals are up-to-date or that flight attendants ‘recommend’ that passengers be seated when the seat belt sign illuminates.
Flight attendants remain unable to fulfill their responsibility of safety for ALL passengers and parents remain unaware of the danger of G-forces in turbulence or the rare crash and therefore unable to provide the ultimate safety for their small child. So for the flight attendant community and for parents who take the chance to fly a small child for free and therefore free to fly through the cabin in turbulence or an accident, I will continue to fight for a mandate. If the law requires children to be in a safe seat in a car traveling 50-70 miles an hour, then WHY allow lap children on planes going 500 MPH?
Infants and toddlers deserve to be safe and protected - everywhere.