I have a 4 year old and a 22 month old and I have been flying with them since the first one was 3 months old. I consider myself a frequent traveler and thought I knew all about traveling with tots but yesterday on a Jetblue flight, I was told that due to the limited number of oxygen masks per row, they will need to seat my husband and my 4 year old in a different row because they need to keep an open seat on my row to allow an oxygen mask for my lap baby. My mind started to swirl because after all my traveling, this never occurred to me!! Of course she needs her own oxygen mask!!! And on my way there, same exact scenario, they did not abide by this regulation. So this is the situation. On Jetblue aircrafts that have 3 seats per row (3 seats then the aisle then 3 more on the other side), there are only 3 oxygen masks per row per side. On these flights, they are required to leave an open seat in the row where there is a lap baby to allow an oxygen mask for that baby. There is also a limited number of life vests so they have a restriction to the number of lap babies per flight. Some aircrafts have an additional oxygen mask on every row and some have additional masks on every other row. I have been researching this with no definitive guideline to every type of aircraft so this is what I suggest:
- Include your lap baby on your ticket at the time of your reservation
- Ask what the oxygen mask configuration / restrictions are on your flight
- Fly Jetblue flights that have 3 seats per row, you’re guaranteed an extra seat!
I usually get a seat for my tots on longer flights but this was a 45 minute flight to Las Vegas so I didn’t this time but it was a good lesson to learn. There are a lot of talk of the safety of flying with a lap baby but it is highly debatable. Consider using the Baby B’Air Flight Vest Travel Harness for some peace of mind.
I called American Airlines (we go to Hawaii on the 23rd) and the agent would only answer my question with their policy. I asked her if we have a lap baby are there 4 mask on a 3 person row and she read off a confusing policy that basically said there is one mask for every seat.
Creighton