C J Campbell wrote in
e.com:

Well, of course if you are going to expect the flight crew to risk their
careers (and the child's safety) by breaking the FARs then they have the
right to expect you to support them for the rest of their lives if they
get caught, right?

Are you implying that if the parent put the kid on his lap, got the kid to
shut up, and told the attendant that he was 2, there would be an FAA
investigation yielding evidence of the child's age?

Or is it more likely that the parent would have accepted responsibility for
the safety of the child, and for the violation of the FARs, and yet the plane
would have taken off and landed uneventfully. And had that not been the case,
the flight crew's lives would not have lasted much longer than the childs, so
no additional support would be necessary.