I have traveled successfully with a lap infant, and you can too. It's obviously a cheaper alternative than buying a seat and you don't have to lug the car seat through security and through the airport.
My number one piece of advice for anyone travelling with a child under the age of 2 years is that you have to plan the travel around the child's naps. A tired baby is a cranky baby. Period. I was on a flight with a set of parents and their one year old twins who looked very tired before they boarded the plane (both the babies and the parents). You would think this is good, but tired turned into too tired and there was no hope of peace for anyone on the plane, especially the poor parents. Being the mother of twins myself, I learned early that there is something to that sleep training idea. Go through your sleep routine as much as possible on the plane when it's time for a nap, provide any lovies that they would normally nap with that are small enough for the flight, then cover their head with a thin blanket so they can breath, but not see around them (after about 4-5 months).
The second tip is book an aisle seat. Getting into the diaper bag frequently is hard to pull off if you are in a window or middle seat. Leaning out into the aisle gives you some extra room, just look before you lean. On one flight, I sware the flight attendant was waiting behind me to jump into the aisle with a service cart every time I had to reach for the diaper bag.
Third tip, don't forget the birth certificate. We were almost declined our lap infants because I forgot the birth certificates. Luckily the pediatricians office was open and they faxed over immunization records and we were cleared. Since I usually tried to buy them seats were rarely asked, so I got lax. But some airlines want to make sure they aren't losing a fare to an over-age lap infant. For all airlines that I know of, the cut off is age two. If your child turns two before the return flight, you'll have to book a seat for them on the way back. On overseas flights to Europe we have had to pay about 1/4th the cost of my ticket to carry an infant onboard, so be sure you have purchased the lap infant ticket if it's required.
During take-off and landing, you are only allowed to hold the baby on your lap with no restraining devices. No carriers or slings. (Although on an overseas flight, a European airline gave me a little infant seat belt that hooked onto mine for takeoff and landing - it was brilliant, why don't the US carriers use those?) Once in the air, you can put your baby in a carrier to hold them. I found that under age one, kids do fairly well as lap infants because they aren't too mobile anyway. Once past that year point they want down and to run up and down the aisles. It just requires more entertainment and distractions. My kids were fascinated with my lip stick tubes for almost an hour on a flight. For the next flight I bought some cheap lipstick in different shaped tubes and cleaned out the lipstick with a q-tip. Think small, portable, entertainment.
Don't plan on using the tray table for your drinks. Bring a drink bottle for yourself and your little one and pour your drinks in there after they're served to avoid spills. If travelling with a companion you can use their tray table, but you may want to ask for lids on your cups in case a stray arm or leg flips the other tray table. Been there.
For transporting you child through the airport you can opt for carrying or taking them in their stroller and gate checking the stroller when you get to the plane. Be sure to get your gate-check tag for the stroller from the gate agent for each flight and pick it up by your plane at the end of your flight. I have been on one flight where the airport (Iceland) policy took gate-checked bags to the luggage carousel and I ended up without a stoller, but they did provide mostly clean looking community strollers in the airport for getting to baggage claim. I have to admit I was a little panicked when they made the announcement as I sat there after a 5 hour flight with my twin 1 year olds on the plane, but it turned out fine.
You will have checked your car seat with your luggage but make sure you don't accidentally pay for the car seat on airlines that charge for baggage. Car seats and strollers fly free on all airlines, but you may only get to check one with your luggage if you have only purchased one ticket on the plane for yourself, but you can still gate check the stroller. I was arguing with an agent while helping a friend at the airport that had a lap infant and a child in a seat next to her. She had two car seats to check. The gate agent kept insisting she could only check one assisted device and had to pay for the other. Once we put it in simple terms, two purchased seats, two assisted devices, the agent realized she did not have to pay for the second one if she put one device on each seat, duh.
Best of luck to you and your little bundle of joy on your travels.
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