child seatThe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is now recommending that parents strap their children in when they take them on a plane.  While it’s just a recommendation for now, it could become a requirement for families traveling with small babies to put them in a child seat.  That of course would require the purchase of an additional seat.

It’s not the child’s size and weight that is of concern.  Officials worry about what happens when the plane moves suddenly.  According to a safety alert issued today by the NTSB, the worry is turbulence and survivable crashes.  Severe turbulence can be equally as traumatic as a minor car crash.  If a parent is wearing a seatbelt, the child can be out of their hands in an instant and the injuries can be severe.

Unrestrained children have become separated from their parents during survivable crashes and their parents were unable to locate their children during evacuations.

Here’s some more travel news you can use:

  • When two airlines merge, there’s a benefit to travelers who want to rack up frequent flier miles – but according to the Dallas Morning News, they “must play their cards right.”   Essentially, you can buy your way to bonus miles by getting affinity credit and debit cards, and once the airlines merge, you’ll be able to roll all of those miles into one account.
  • Officials from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) have advised passengers to consult airlines over flight status before arriving as the number of people travelling over the Memorial Day weekend is expected to go up. Around 769,000 travelers are expected to pass through LAX during the four-day Memorial Day weekend — a 5.3 percent increase from the same period in 2009.
  • A Michigan woman who fell asleep on a Philadelphia-bound flight and awoke to find herself trapped in the cabin more than three hours after it landed sued the airline Thursday, alleging false imprisonment.