[Rubicant]

I was confused about the part where the delta person said the faa would not allow the child to sit in a car seat but had to be in the parents lap the whole time. That's clearly not true, but my assumption is that there was no seat (obviously) to attach the car seat to, so you can't just put a car seat on the floor somewhere and put the kid in it and that's what she meant.

The family was mistaken (although I totally get their frustration in thinking you already had a seat paid for, only to have it given away) in that you don't lock that seat down unless the person checked into the seat actually shows up at the gate. It's a bummer, but I don't fault the airline for giving the seat to someone on standby at that point.

Where I think the airline really fell down here was in forcing the family off rather than letting the toddler (assuming they're under 2) ride in a lap. They would hold the plane up even longer getting the luggage off, and it's a sure fire way to piss that family off for life (and creates negative press).

As an aside, I have been screwed over flying causing me to miss flights with and without young children. It's an annoying inconvenience when you are travelling alone, it's 1000x worse with young children.