A Seat for Every Passenger: Honor Evan Tsao

United States Congress

Today there is no requirement to protect our smallest passengers in their own seat with a proper restraint device. Children under the age of two can fly as a “lap child” in the same seat as their parent or guardian. The FAA, the National TransportationBoard (NTSB), American Academy of Pediatrics, independent researchers, and Flight Attendants have all concluded this is dangerous.

America's aviation system is the safest and most secure in the world, but there are still many dangers for unsecured children. Simple accidents like falling from a parents lap pose real risk. Our aviation system is also seeing a steep rise in extreme turbulence, which can lead to tragedy for any passenger who isn't properly secured, but is especially dangerous for infants and toddlers.

Flight attendants are critical to passenger safety, especially in the event of an emergency. At no time was this more evident than the crash landing of United Flight 232, when a brave flight crew jumped into action and saved more than 100 lives. We will continue to fight to make our system even safer.

We can't continue to put our youngest and most vulnerable passengers in unnecessary danger. It's time to require a seat for every passenger and protect our youngest travelers.

We are calling on Congress to pass legislation to protect every person onboard in memory of Evan Tsao, the unsecured infant who died during the United Flight 232 emergency landing in Sioux City, Iowa in 1989.

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To: United States Congress
From: [Your Name]

Dear Member of Congress:

The FAA requires Flight Attendants to secure all loose items in the aircraft cabin for taxi, take-off, landing, during turbulence, and when preparing for an inflight emergency except our most precious cargo, children under the age of two sitting on their parent's lap.

A child on a parent's lap will not be safe during severe turbulence or as a plane crashes into the ground. At no time was this more evident than the crash landing of United Flight 232 when we lost Evan Tsao, the unsecured infant who died during the emergency landing in Sioux City, Iowa in 1989.

We can't continue to put our youngest and most vulnerable passengers in unnecessary danger. It's time to require a seat for every passenger and protect our youngest travelers.

We are calling on Congress to pass legislation to protect every person onboard in memory of Evan Tsao.

It’s past time to mandate this protection for our youngest and most precious passengers. We can and should do better to protect our children. One injury or death of a child is one too many. In order to keep children under two safe during flights, Congress must require the FAA to eliminate the exception for lap children and require all passengers to have their own seats on the plane.

Please take action NOW.