Why the Alaska Airlines Incident Could Have Been So Much Worse

On Friday evening, January 5, 2023, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off on a routine flight from Portland, OR, to Ontario, CA. Within minutes of taking off, the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane lost a rear left door plug and the American public learned so much more about things they could not see inside of aircraft than they ever wished to know. Good fortune flew with Alaska Airlines and those passengers that evening since the two closest seats to the gaping hole in the fuselage were unoccupied and the event happened just after takeoff while passengers were still wearing their seat belts. Only minor injuries were reported.

I should preface that by saying “most passengers” were wearing their seat belts since there were 3 children under the age of 2 flying as lap babies. When a plane flies above 10,000 feet, it pressurizes for our comfort and oxygen intake—we’ll get sick and eventually pass out due to lack of oxygen.

When that door plug blew off, it created a giant hole and quickly depressurized the cabin. Everything suddenly got sucked toward that opening, including literally the shirt off the teen’s back in the seat in front of the opening. Imagine being a parent trying to hold onto your child trying to keep them from being sucked out a hole in the side of a plane with no warning as the cabin tries to regulate to the outside air pressure.

However, this illustrates the reason child passenger safety technicians and advocates have been saying for decades to buy a ticket for your under-age-2-child and use their carseat. By buying a ticket, you are prioritizing their safety in the event of an onboard emergency, such as a door plug flying off (who had that one on their 2024 bingo card?), turbulence, rough landings and takeoffs, and any of a number of unknown things that can happen to aircraft in the air or on the ground. The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) implores parents and caregivers to buy tickets and use their carseats on planes.

I realize I come from a place of privilege when I say you should buy a ticket for your child under age 2 when they can fly for free because flying is so expensive. But ask yourself, what magically happens when they turn 2 and you must buy that ticket? Do you not take the trip? Does someone else pay for the ticket? Do you take the trip at a later date and save longer? Is there a difference in how you value their life when they’re 22 months old versus when they’re 24 months old?

I do know the real way to get parents to use their carseats on planes is to make it affordable. In the past airlines used to offer 50% off regular priced fares, which were still more expensive than sale prices. Thanks for the incentive, guys. Now it’s cheaper to pay regular sales prices, but how about 25-50% off regular sales prices? It’ll never happen because there are so few injuries on planes that they make more filling the seats with adults than they do litigating any injuries to kids under age 2 that get hurt on planes.

Let’s look at some advantages to using that carseat on the plane:

You personally won’t have a kid in arms for the duration of the flight. Whew! (Most moms I know need that break from being touched.)
Your child is in a comfortable space they know and are familiar with
They are more likely to sleep in that comfortable space
Your child will be safe on the plane—safer from turbulence (leading cause of injuries on a plane), safer from runway incidents, safer from burns from hot drinks
Your child will have a carseat to use at your destination that you are familiar with installing and using