*Your tot will fall asleep faster and remain asleep longer.
He can recline in his familiar, comfy car seat that fills the plane seat.

*He can keep his arms and legs moving.
If he's in your lap, he can't.  In his own seat, however, he can kick and kick and kick without touching the seat in front of him.

*You can keep him occupied with games and books.
If he's on your lap, you're so squished -- especially on a small regional jet like the one Penland was on -- that it's nearly impossible to lean down and grab the comfort toys you've stored under the seat in front of you, and you can't lower the traytable in order to play a game or use a sticker book.

Doug, just turned 3, and Charlie, then 4, on a flight to Jamaica in January.  If a child is in your lap, you can't lower the traytable, which means you can't put on a video.

2. Carry the right portable car seat that fits into the plane seat.
I always used a Sit 'n' Stroll -- a stroller that contracts into a car seat and expands again into a stroller. Before my youngest son hit 40 pounds, I used it on countless trips where I had to remain mobile, packing around as little gear as possible.  Without the car seat, it was impossible to confine my kids on a plane:  Whenever they were placed in a large plane seat without it, they easily squirmed out from under their fastened seatbelts.   

I know this because I was once in a situation similar to Penland's:  Four summers ago I too flew Continental Express out of Houston, alone with then-17-month-old Charlie. For some strange reason, the flight attendant would not allow me to bring my car seat onto the small regional jet. (She said it wouldn't fit, which wasn't true.  This was the exact same car seat, FAA-certified for air travel, that Charlie sat in on every other plane he flew from the age of six months to three years.) The result of having to relinquish Charlie's car seat to the cargo hold?  There was no way to keep him strapped in his seat; the seatbelt couldn't confine him.  He spent the flight jumping up and down on the seat -- in turbulence, with the Fasten Seat Belt sign on -- trying to climb over anyone and everyone to get out. The flight attendant, whom I hope regretted her decision to gate-check the car seat, didn't do or say anything about it.

3.  During airport waits, exhaust your child.
Poor Penland and Garren were delayed 11 hours at the airport in Houston. She told one TV news outlet that she said to the flight attendant, "Well, he's been here at the airport for eleven hours, stuck in a stroller, you know, you should be lucky he's not screaming his head off."  How much of the delay Garren actually spent "stuck in a stroller" I don't know, but I do know that any parent of an active young child has got to spend as much of their airport time as possible exercising him. The more energy a young boy burns off before the flight, the less squirmy and cranky he will be onboard.  Friday's USA Today ran a great list of airports nationwide with kid-friendly areas where you can run your kids before or between flights.

4. Don't feed your tot sugar before or during the flight.
If you must give him fruit juice instead of milk, dilute the juice with water. Obviously, carry non-sugary snacks that your baby can eat onboard.

5. Ease your child's ear pain during the ascent and descent.
You want to keep your child swallowing, and thus prevent his ears from clogging, so give him something to drink during the ascent and descent. You can also alleviate ear pain by giving your tot Infant Tylenol about 40 minutes before lift-off.

6. Do not give your child Benadryl for the first time on a plane.
If you want to do so because that's the only way you and your child can survive a long flight, test it out at home first. At least several days before your flight, give him some Benadryl at bedtime and see if it makes him drowsy. It can easily have the opposite effect and make your kid excitable -- which, of course, is the last thing you want on a plane.

7. Keep your child entertained with toys, games, and books.
When my kids were toddlers, here are the travel-friendly games we brought onboard (and we still do): A MagnaDoodle or travel-size Etch A Sketch; mess-free Crayola Color Wonder paper and markers; Imaginetics magnetic play sets; sticker books; and Colorforms. Sure, a ton of magnetic pieces and Colorforms and markers will end up all over the floor.  True, it's a pain in the neck to pick them all up. And yes, at disembarkation you need to wait till everyone else has deplaned before you can begin to clean up your seat area and retrieve all your kids' belongings.  But when you fly with small kids, that's par for the course. Last but hardly least, always bring your child's favorite stuffed animal or comfort toy.  And don't lose it!  Hold onto it as if it were your most prized possession because, with the exception of your child, it is.