“Families Not Welcome” How Airlines Profit from Making Travel Impossible for Parents
Traveling as a family should be a joyful experience. But for many parents, especially those with babies or toddlers, it feels more like running a gauntlet designed to make us feel unwelcome, unseen, and unreasonably penalized.
Want to fly first class to make the journey bearable with a toddler? That’s cute. Now pay for a full-price seat for your two-year-old even though she won’t sit in it. Want to use the lounge while you wait? She’ll need her own business class ticket to enter.
This is about our recent experience flying internationally with our two-year-old daughter, who is still a baby by all accounts (although a lounge employee corrected me that she’s not), though not just legally, but physically. She's small, she can’t sit still in her own seat safely for 10+ hours, and like most toddlers, she needs to be in a parent's lap for comfort and security.
When my spouse and I chose to fly business or first class, a necessity on long-haul flights with a toddler, most airlines and lounges now require your child to have their own premium ticket just to enter the lounge. That’s right. A 2-year-old must hold a business class ticket to sit in a lounge they can’t even comprehend, let alone appreciate.
And if you’re thinking: “Well, fly economy then.” Here’s the kicker...
Domestic and international airlines require you to buy a full-priced seat for a child over 2 (by over 2, they mean a day over 2 as in she just turned 2 last week) even if they’ll be sitting in your lap 90% of the time. They claim to have a discounted child fare, but most of the time they don’t. That’s not a fee for added convenience. It’s the same as buying an adult ticket which could be thousands of dollars.
Booking a flight for our 2-year-old made it crystal clear: this system was not built for families, it was built for maximum profit at minimum empathy.
Airlines don’t care that your baby still fits in your lap. They don’t care that she’ll scream on takeoff and sleep on your shoulder. What they care about is that she doesn’t have her own full-fare ticket and that’s a problem for them. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is about safety…I won’t even go there, but it makes no sense.
This is not just inconvenient. It’s disrespectful, tone-deaf, and grossly exclusionary. The policies may be cloaked in language about “safety” or “fairness,” but the result is clear: families are being priced out, pushed out, and left out. It’s not about policy. It’s not just about the money. It's the total lack of empathy.
We’re not asking for luxury. We’re asking for basic practicality:
· Let our toddlers sit on our laps without paying full fare.
· Let them into the lounge if their parents have paid for access.
· Offer discounted family bundles or loyalty perks for families flying together.
· Stop making every step feel like a penalty for daring to travel with our children.
I’m just trying to be a mom. A legal professional. A human being who wanted to take a vacation with her family without having to financially recover from the flight alone afterward.
You don’t have to scream to know something’s broken.
Sometimes all it takes is sitting in an airport, holding your baby, wondering why simply existing as a family has become a luxury purchase.
Airlines: Do better. Because we’re not just customers, we’re raising your future customers.
