Business Class with Infant

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ignore the PP who said not to bring a baby. Ugh

DD has flown 4 long haul flights in Business and we’ve never had an issue. The people around you are probably parents and they get it. DD had an ear infection on a flight when she was around 18 months old and cried off an on for an hour or so. Everyone survived and no one gave us a dirty look.

How old is the infant? That will be helpful as far as tips go but honestly- you’ll be fine!!

Thanks PP. My baby will be about 5 months at the time of the flight

No way would I buy a seat for a 5 month old. They will want to sit on your lap 100% of the time. Often the business class seats are in those little private pods as well, so it isn't like you would even be next to your baby if they were in their own seat.

It’s not safe for them not to be secure during turbulence. What an infant “wants” is irrelevant. If your kids want to ride in a car without a seatbelt, do you just let them do what they want?

Oh we have found this person again. There is always one person in a thread about kids flying that insists that ever kid needs their own seat w/ a car seat strapped in.

DP, but this is a real concern. I have a family member who represents airlines in personal injury litigation, and they say that most people don't understand how common it is for there to be injuries from clear air turbulence. It's why airlines encourage people to keep their seat belts on while seated. If you have a baby in your arms, and the airplane hits a pocket of air, there's no way you can hold on to the child and they slam into the ceiling. It's so interesting to me that people freak out about letting their kids ride in a car seat front facing or in the front seat of a car, even with a seatbelt, but think it's just fine to ride in an airplane completely unconstrained.

Please tell me how many times this bolded scenario has happened in the history of commercial aviation.. I'll wait...

Yeah exactly. Here are the statistics from the FAA website:


In nonfatal accidents, in-flight turbulence is the leading cause of injuries to airline passengers and flight attendants.
Each year, approximately 58 people in the United States are injured by turbulence while not wearing their seat belts.
From 1980 through 2008, U.S. air carriers had 234 turbulence accidents*, resulting in 298 serious injuries and three fatalities.
Of the 298 serious injuries, 184 involved flight attendants and 114 involved passengers.
At least two of the three fatalities involved passengers who were not wearing their seat belts while the seat belt sign was illuminated.
Generally, two-thirds of turbulence-related accidents occur at or above 30,000 feet.

*The National Transportation Safety Board defines an accident as an occurrence associated with the operations of an airplane in which any person suffers death or serious injury or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage.

So 3 deaths in 28 years and almost 40 million people fly each year. Not exactly a common occurrence.

Interesting that the statistics only go through 2008. Were there zero turbulence accidents from 2008-2021?

Regardless, I'd rather not take that chance with MY babies. It's not just about death, I prefer to have my children injury free. You are entitled to your own prefernces.
If your baby is ever injured in a turbulence accident, I'm sure you will be greatly comforted by the extra $600 that sits in your bank account instead of being used towards a seat.

Apparently, pp is ok as long as the only result is brain damage. By the way, the risk of death from a car accident is 1.2 per 100 million miles driven. I'm still going to put my kids in a car seat. (FYI -- in 1923, it was 18.65 per 100 million miles. I suspect seat belts and car seats played a role in the drop).

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/historical-fatality-trends/deaths-and-rates/

[Anonymous]

Buy a seat for the baby and yes you will be fine

[Anonymous]

The worst are the parents that buy one business class seat and use savings for the lap baby. They should require that you buy another seat for all ages in business class.

[Anonymous]

If you have a family , it should be required that you all seat together and pay for all seats , this avoids those abusing business class is to buy one seat and rotate their family members from coach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a family , it should be required that you all seat together and pay for all seats , this avoids those abusing business class is to buy one seat and rotate their family members from coach

Have flown international business class 7 times and never once seen anyone rotating seats. I suspect this is a very rare occurence.

[Anonymous]

I traveled in class when my children were babies/toddlers all the time. Not sure what the big deal is. It was great.

[Anonymous]

This post is four years old but I am not sure how it would work to have a seat for an infant in intercontinental business class. The seats are so separated you wouldn’t be able to see the baby. Seems not ideal.