I'm always hearing parents ask about airline travel tips for their little ones, so I thought I needed to share my favorite restraining device* for babies and toddlers on flights. We used this Kids Fly Safe airplane seatbelt for our kids. Once my kids could sit in their own seat I knew I had to find something to restrain them. Eh-hem, I mean keep them safely seated for the duration of the flight. I didn't want to lug a carseat onto the plane and they could easily undo the plane's belt buckle, so we found this alternative. The seatbelt has a lap belt and two shoulder straps that clasp along the chest. My kids could not get out of this and the shoulder straps helped keep their squirmy little bodies from escaping their seat during take-off, landing, or turbulence.
To install the seatbelt you basically wrap the belt around your child's seat and tighten the straps. This can get a little awkward as you have to ask the person behind them to lower their tray table so you can get the strap behind it. Once the seatbelt is in place the tray table can go back to its regular position and it doesn't affect its use.
In my opinion, this seatbelt is way over-priced, but it held up really well over 4 years and close to 25 flights. I think my husband bought this directly from the seller ($75) but I've seen them on Amazon for a little bit cheaper. We ended up selling ours on Craigslist for around $45, so you may be able to find sellers there too. To me, this is the best alternative to lugging a carseat on the plane or relying on those easy-to-unlatch, might-as-well-just-be-a-toy, lap belts from the airplane seats.
*I mean seat belt.