Frankly, I think that all children should be paid for and strapped in. The lapbelt is a death trap for the baby, but an unrestrained baby just becomes a missile in a high impact crash such as Sioux City. I gather that the FAA argument for not mandating this, is that it might encourage families with small children to drive instead and many more people would die as a result of this. However, you could make the same argument for all kids... I would buy a ticket, even for a child under 2. I have two kids and always bought a ticket, and then put the baby in the child seat. Admittedly we were flying long haul and part of our motive was not wanting to hold a baby for 8 hours without a break, but I think it is better all round.
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