Wrt....: 'We're talking about Safety, for the sake of only ONE extra F/A. Of course, the argument ALL centres around cost cutting - but HERE is one example of where penny pinching IS reflected on a degradation of Safety.'
Q). Empirically, how many 'infants' have been injured and / or killed in aviation incidents / accidents and in those incidents / accidents would having an extra F/A onboard have made much of difference to the outcome ?
I think we'd all agree that one of the FA's rolls is to open the doors and scream at the pax to get out ( which includes people in charge of infants ). Accordingly one supposes it could be argued that a more legitimate reason for having an extra F/A onboard is to ensure that each door is ‘personned’ (pc) by at least one F/A.
I.e. The legal requirement for most aircraft ( i.e. those which have more than 19 seats ) is for 1 F/A per 50 seats or fraction of seats thereof - and even that number can be reduced to 2 ( subject to certain provisos ).
So extra F/A's onboard specifically to address infant safety, uhm ?!