Y'all, you know me. I (obviously) like to save money. With the holidays coming up we've been throwing around ideas about what we should do. We're planners, we're Virgo's, we're Type A (well, Aaron is more than me;), and we also know that the earlier we buy our plane tickets the more money we can save. I've even heard that for each day you wait to buy it's an average of $5 that's added, per day, to the price of the ticket.
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One of the ideas we have is to go visit my family in Lincoln, Nebraska. We'd probably fly because the tickets are so inexpensive, (relatively speaking), and the flight is a mere 1 hour long. If we drive then it's close to 8 hours (or, it can be done in 7 hours if you only stop 2 times, and go 7 to 10 miles over the speed limit the whole time. Not that I would know.).
When thinking about flying with our little guy, Henry, (his 1st airplane trip) we definitely did not even consider the possibility of buying him his own seat because, I mean, duh. Babies under 2 can fly for free! So you better believe we were going to take full advantage of the chance to save some money!
What I didn't realize though was that there may be risks to not getting him his own seat. I thought things like:
– “He's so little it would be no problem to keep him on our laps. He might will be squirmy but it won't be for long so it'll be fine! Let's save money when we can!”
– “That's such a waste of money to be going and getting all spread out and luxurious on the plane! We'll just be scrunched up for a little bit! It'll be fine! Let's save money when we can!”
– “Only people with money to spare (like lots of it) would ever buy their baby their own seat. I mean, come on. There's money to be saved here so let's save it! We'll be fine! “
I never thought about not going with “baby flies free” option because I never had a reason not to. You see, the other day I joined a Facebook group called Car Seats for the Littles. I was scrolling along thinking about how complicated this whole car seat thing is when it really shouldn't be that hard, right? And then, this article pops up about changing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations for kids under 2. My first thought was what it had always been: “Oh hell no! SAVE THE MONEY!”
But then, I read a this: Babies Have a Right to a Safe Seat with Proper Restraints – The Infant Seat Exception Should be Abandoned, and that completely changed everything.
Now, I feel like if we do fly anywhere before the baby's 2 years old there's no way I can justify not spending money on a seat for him after knowing what I know now. If, heaven forbid, anything were to happen I would never be able to forgive myself for not buying a seat just to save some money.
To me, it just isn't worth the risk. I've got to say, there are some things that are far more important that money, and this is one of those things.
So, I have a hundred (6) questions for you: What do think about all this? Did you know about the risks associated with having a Lap Baby? Is it worth the extra couple hundred bucks? Am I over-reacting? Why isn't this something we hear about more? Why isn't this a bigger deal to people?
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