Belt up!

Flying back from a few days break in Sharm last week,on Egypt Air, my friend Nick and I were horrified by what we saw. All the adults were being checked to make sure they were wearing their seltbelts, but there were children, not only not belted in for take off or landing.... but standing up in the aisle and being passed between family members throughoutit all!!!

I tapped the woman in front of me on the shoulder and helpfully, i thought, advised her that her child (under 3 years old) should also have a belt on and she replied that she had asked and been told it wasn't neccesary! Indeed the air stewards were walking past the child, who was standing up, and not making any comment. We were dumbstruck!

Trying to understand it we came up with a few theories as to why this attitude was so different in Egypt than in UK. (remembering that this is a country where you see entire families, babies included on the back of a moped with no helmets and no safety precautions at all)

1- Egypt air maybe just doesn't have child belts on that particular flight... so in order to cover this failing they say it's not neccesary?

2- Inshallah laws- ie if its God's will that the child will live or die then who are we to question or do anything about it? although that doesn't explain why the adults were carefully belted in?

3- We are on a plane, and truth is that if it's likely to crash- they none of us will survive anyway whether belted in or not? So rules are broken , cos they are deemed silly anyway?

4- Egyptian children often get their own way in every situation..... and no-one likes to be belted in... so their freedom on the flight is more important than potential safety hazard? anything so the child doesn't cry?

5- If a child dies it's not important cos you can always have another one? (I KNOW this can't be the case the way children are treasured here!)

6- The child didn't pay a seperate ticket therefore isn't entitled to the same safety?

7- Maybe its all just over protection and no-one really needs a belt but we are all belted in because of silly, over cautious laws impossed, probably by the west, on all airlines and since deemed silly (a bit like traffic lights in Cairo) then promptly ignored wherever possible (indeed the mother herself wasn't belted in for landing and no-one said anything to her)!

8-.........??????? any rational reason??? if you have any other ideas I would love to hear them........

I had been hoping to persuade my sister sometime while she is holidaying in Sharm to fly to Cairo to see how and where I live, but if my nephew has to fly without a selt belt... I think I'll tell her not to until he's old enough to be in his own seat with its own belt!!!!!!

Otherwise, I quite like Egypt Air.