Hi, Everyone.
I know that most people have strong feelings one way or the other on this subject, but I feel the need to post somewhat of a defense of the people who do not purchase seats for their child.
Shortly before my son was born, my mother who lived across the country was diagnosed with cancer. In order to be with her and help my parents while the chemotherapy and radiation was going on required monthly visits to them via airtravel. I took my son with me as soon as he was allowed to fly.
My family is in no way wealthy, but being with my mother to help was not a choice. It was a necessity. There was no way that we could afford 2 tickets every time we went. Especially since we could not 'pre-plan' and often had to take those $300+ tickets just to get there.
In addition, I was blessed with a child who HATES car seats. When he was very small, we would avoid going out anywhere because he would scream so much and there was no comforting him. We live pretty far out in the country and I could only count on him napping one way. I used to be so jealous of those people who could take their infant out even to go to the grocery. I would just stare in disbelief when people told tales of lulling their baby to sleep by putting them in a car seat and driving around! This left out the option of traveling by car (which was also excluded due to time constraints of a 2+ day travel one way). It also could have made other passengers very uncomfortable having to listen to him for a 2&1/2 hour flight. Let me also mention that I am a pharmacist so there was NO WAY I was going to drug my baby with Benadryl or alcohol to get him to sleep through a flight.
After saying all that, let me also mention that once my mother passed away we only traveled for vacations when it was possible to save up. I always purchase a seat for my kids and my second son (who loved his carseat-- YAY--) has never been held on a flight.
I know that we usually form opinions of things based on our limited experience. But we should try to remember that things may not always be the way they seem to us with our simple answers.