Why is this a story?
Image by soupboy via Flickr
A family flying from Charlotte to Chicago was removed from an aircraft by US Airways. The family consisted of two adults, and four children: a 3-year old, two 20-month old twins, and an eight month old. Â The family purchased three tickets. They succeeded in getting onto the plane, with one infant in each lap, and a third seated with the toddler.
This is a story because they got all the way to the plane. Safety regulations state the infants booked as lap children, must have an accompanying adult…one with a lap. There is also the issue of oxygen masks. Most aircraft have at least one extra oxygen mask per row. Which would mean one infant per row.
It is a topic of much debate as to whether allowing infants to be booked as lap children is safe. But what this family tried to do is indisputably unsafe. And any airline employee should realize this. But there are many possibilities why it was not realized in the busy holiday season.
But it should have been picked up by a website, that should check for this, and/or an agent who should be aware of the policies.
As a side note, we’d be a bit wary if a complete stranger offered to hold an infant on a flight.Even if we were only a short distance away.
