Flying with a newborn or even a six-month-old is relatively easy, despite all the fear and anxiety you have at pre-boarding. So long as you make sure the baby has something to suckle on during take-off and landing, and that you have plenty of wipes, diapers, and milk, about the only difficulty you will encounter is managing a diaper change in an airplane lavatory. (Pray for no poop.)
Of course, there are exceptions.
Sometimes, babies freak out on planes and being babies, the only power they wield is the uncontrollable cry. But at least with a crying baby, you can carry them up and down the aisle with relative ease as you shush and soothe them. Babies also tire out quicker. #thankgodforthat
As opposed to chasing a screaming, crying, 18-month-old down the aisle who flings his or her arms and legs out the moment you try to pick them up, inevitably kicking some poor soul along the way, and despite seeming tired, has enough energy to continue this sh*tshow for the rest of the flight. And even when you manage to bring your out-of-control darling back to your seat, he or she continues to wail, throw things and worst of all, kick the seat in front of you.
It's at that moment that you ask yourself, “Why didn't I pay for an extra seat and strap them into their car seat? This would have been over by now.”
Eh, don't be so hard on yourself. Airline tickets are expensive, especially for the flights to popular vacation destinations. And if the airlines allow children under the age of two to sit on their parents' lap during the flight, then you have every right to bring them on as a lapchild. After all, it's only your pride and your sanity that are being sacrificed. NBD.
But now, some airlines want to start charging for lap children. According to the Daily Mail, Brazil's airlines are hoping to do away with the fee cap, called The Toddler Tax that's in place for parents flying with children. This fee charges parents up to 10 percent of the fare price for lap children. Obvioulsy, Brazil's airlines hope to charge more.
Other carriers abroad like easyJet in the UK and British Airways also charge parents similar fees for children sitting on their laps, but the fees tend to be restricted to at most 10 percent of the fare.
No such fee exists in the United States…yet. But given how airlines have been charging for “extras” over the past decade (remember when in-flight meals were included in the ticket?), we could totally see airlines instituting a fee for lap children.
Still, we have to question how helpful a Toddler Tax would be, other than being another source of revenue for the airlines. It's not like there's going to be a special seat or family area on the plane for lap children. Lap children will still cry, scream, and kick the seat in front of them. Parents will be just as exasperated trying to control a toddler on the cusp of terrible twos in a tiny airplane seat. And I don't think because you paid a toddler tax or lapchild fee you will get any different service. That only happens when you're in first class.
So really, it would be just another hefty fee to charge passengers. Depending on how badly you want to go on vacation, you may or may not put up with it. Or perhaps it will just convince you to buy your kid his or her own seat. Might as well get some extra space if you're going to be paying extra. Which maybe, this is what the airlines had in mind all along.
What do you think about a Lap child or Toddler Tax? Would you pay it, or would you just buy your kid his or her own seat instead? Sound off in comments below!
