Canadian car seats on US airlines?

[5mouseketeersforus]

On the transportation board - I noticed a fellow Canadian saying that we can't bring our carseats onto US airlines since they don't have the FAA sticker on them??

Can anyone confirm/deny??

If it is true, then I am going to be very discouraged. We booked a seat for our 2 month old specifically so she would be buckled in her infant seat as well as our 2 year old who will be out of his seat in a heartbeat unless he is in his car seat

 

[yayasue]

On the transportation board - I noticed a fellow Canadian saying that we can't bring our carseats onto US airlines since they don't have the FAA sticker on them??

Can anyone confirm/deny??

If it is true, then I am going to be very discouraged. We booked a seat for our 2 month old specifically so she would be buckled in her infant seat as well as our 2 year old who will be out of his seat in a heartbeat unless he is in his car seat

When I went to WDW is Sept 2011 I brought my 2 car seats and I didn't have any problems. We flew out of Burlington VT with JetBlue.

Oh just read your last sentence... we didn't use them in flight, we checked them..

 

[stefanospops]

We have a Britax car seat that we have used on the plane for at least 20 flights. The seat itself has Canadian stickers on it despite being made in the US. The sticker says it is approved for use in a car and aircraft. We almost always fly Jetblue out of BUffalo and they sometimes check the seat and have always allowed us to use it. Just make sure it says somewhere on the seat that it is approved for use in a plane.

 

[darwinsrule]

On the transportation board - I noticed a fellow Canadian saying that we can't bring our carseats onto US airlines since they don't have the FAA sticker on them??

Can anyone confirm/deny??

If it is true, then I am going to be very discouraged. We booked a seat for our 2 month old specifically so she would be buckled in her infant seat as well as our 2 year old who will be out of his seat in a heartbeat unless he is in his car seat

First - bravo for booking the seat. Yes you can save money by having them in you lap at that age but money should never trump safety. Especially of those we care about.

We have used our Britax on multiple flights without issue, and have never had a question asked by the crew. My guess is the label is there somewhere but check the manufacturers website/send them an email and bring the answer along with you when you travel.

Hauling the seats around and storing them is a pain but worth it. When they get a bit older look at the CARES infant restraint system. Have used one with our youngest (now 4 1/2) on our last 3 trips and it is soooo much easier. Funny however that we have never had the car seats questioned but on one of the flights we did get questioned by one of the cabin crew who had never seen it before. We had the bag and documentation with FAA approval ready but one of the other crew members came over and told it was okay.

 

[5mouseketeersforus]

Thanks.

Feeling a bit better after reading the responses. I mean, any car seat sold in Canada is approved for Canadian planes - and they are the same planes that US airlines use so really, it shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully we don't get a nit-picky crew.

 

[stefanospops]

We have three kids and have been doing DIsney trips since the second one was about 14 months. I have always paid for a seat for them when under 2 years old for safety reasons, but it is also more comfortable for everyone. My daughter who turns 4 in a few days has typically fallen asleep on the runway and woken up upon landing. That would not be possible if we were holding her. As long as you can show that it is rated for aircraft they should not give you any problems. Good luck!

 

[abmama]

We have a Britax car seat that we have used on the plane for at least 20 flights. The seat itself has Canadian stickers on it despite being made in the US. The sticker says it is approved for use in a car and aircraft. We almost always fly Jetblue out of BUffalo and they sometimes check the seat and have always allowed us to use it. Just make sure it says somewhere on the seat that it is approved for use in a plane.

We have a Britax car seat for my 3 year old (the Boulevard CS) and we used it once on a West Jet flight. It was a nightmare! It was so big to move around (especially when boarding the plane, everyone was glaring at us). My husband did the planes seatbelt around the back of the carseat and when we landed, we couldn't get it undone! We were the last people to get off the plane, as the captain had to come and take apart the seatbelt. Any tips with these car seats? On the way back, we ended up checking his carseat and he sat in a regular seat (he was 2 at the time). It was a horrible experience and I swear everyone on the plane hated us!

 

[darwinsrule]

We have a Britax car seat for my 3 year old (the Boulevard CS) and we used it once on a West Jet flight. It was a nightmare! It was so big to move around (especially when boarding the plane, everyone was glaring at us). My husband did the planes seatbelt around the back of the carseat and when we landed, we couldn't get it undone! We were the last people to get off the plane, as the captain had to come and take apart the seatbelt. Any tips with these car seats? On the way back, we ended up checking his carseat and he sat in a regular seat (he was 2 at the time). It was a horrible experience and I swear everyone on the plane hated us!

The one issue with the Britax that we also had. The captain on one flight was actually very nice about it, but still nothing like walking out of the plane with the captain minutes after everyone else has already left, your DW and kids waiting for you in the 'what the hell has taken you so long' look. It was a large part of the reason for spending the $100 on the CARES restraint.

 

[stefanospops]

I had this same issue the first few times. The problem was that when I would put on the seatbelt I would tighten it too much AND had the release pointing in towards the seat so you couldn't unrelease. I learned to loosen the seatbelt all the way and connecting the belt to ensure the release pointed away from the seat. Also, I didn't tighten it so tight the way I would in the car. It had some wiggle room but not too much.

 

[Conorama]

I'll preface this by saying that I can't answer the question about flying in the US with Canadian seats, personally, but you might want to ask on car-seat.org; though I think folks are right here - it must be allowed.

However, I wanted to answer about Britax seats and flying.

We use Britax seats in our cars (used to have Boulevards, now we have Frontiers) and we love them in our cars, but they're huge and heavy. We travel with our back-up seat, picked specifically so we have a less heavy/less bulky seat to manage. Right now, we have an Evenflo Maestro for travel (forward facing harnessed mode), and I researched before buying it to make sure it was good on planes. To be honest, we mostly use the CARES harness unless we need a seat at the other end, but Dude is about to outgrow it so we might well be using the Maestro next time we fly. If you look out for sales at TRU, you can get a good deal on it.

 

[Aladora]

On the transportation board - I noticed a fellow Canadian saying that we can't bring our carseats onto US airlines since they don't have the FAA sticker on them??

Can anyone confirm/deny??

If it is true, then I am going to be very discouraged. We booked a seat for our 2 month old specifically so she would be buckled in her infant seat as well as our 2 year old who will be out of his seat in a heartbeat unless he is in his car seat

If I remember correctly, your car seat does not have to have an FAA sticker but it must say that it is certified for use on aircraft.

I'm not sure which airline you are going on but this is what Alaska Air says:

All child restraint systems must bear the following two required labels:

1. This restraint system conforms to all applicable federal motor vehicle safety conditions.

2. This restraint is certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft. (in red lettering) (NOTE: Labels that indicate U.S. or Foreign Government approval or show the seat was manufactured under the standards of the United nations are also valid.)

In addition to the standard CRS mentioned above, children between 22 to 44 pounds and 40 inches or less may use an Aircraft Safety Device (ACSD) for added security. Currently the AmSafe CARES Restraint is the only approved ACSD and must bear a label that reads:

I've bolded the important part but as always, best to check the website of whatever airline you are going on.

 

[3pletprincesses]

I've had car seats on us flights and international flights but face facing. The only concern I have is will they let you have it rear facing as you have a 2 month old. Just a thought.

 

[encinc]

I've used seats both forward facing and rear facing. I was often asked to show the FAA approved sticker, but only once did I have a problem when I showed the Canadian sticker and the line in the manual that said that the seat was approved for aircraft use. I think that having the manual ready with the approval line highlighted helped.

I had difficulty on one flight out of Buffalo (happened to be on Southwest, but I'm not sure that's relevant) where the flight attendant didn't want to let me use the seat because it didn't have the sticker that she'd been trained to look for on it. I politely explained that it is my understanding that Canadian seats meet FAA criteria and showed the page on the manual, and asked whether she could look into it further. She went and asked the captain and came back and said that he said that we could use the seat. She didn't seem happy that I was right, but I think that polite firmness went a long way in that situation. It was a pain because I couldn't install the seat ahead of time like we were used to, but I was glad that I had come prepared and that we were allowed to use the seat.

ETA - I believe that the rearfacing seat needed to be used in the window seat so as not to block anyone else in the row

 

[michelb]

If I remember correctly, your car seat does not have to have an FAA sticker but it must say that it is certified for use on aircraft.
...

I've bolded the important part but as always, best to check the website of whatever airline you are going on.

We only tried it once and were refused because the seat didn't say certified for use on aircraft. Since then, we've just checked the car seat and had the kids with the lap belt (Although that doesn't work great as our 2 year old didn't need long to figure out how to undo the laptop belt buckle on our last flight).

 

[Aladora]

We only tried it once and were refused because the seat didn't say certified for use on aircraft. Since then, we've just checked the car seat and had the kids with the lap belt (Although that doesn't work great as our 2 year old didn't need long to figure out how to undo the laptop belt buckle on our last flight).

We've also used the CARES harness a few years ago with our son and it worked really well. Not sure where you are but we rented one from a local company and it was quite easy. Not useful if you need a car seat for transit after you land but we just gate checked the seat that trip. If you have a younger child that will use the harness more than once or you have more kids that you can use it for later, it might be more cost effective to buy one but we only have our son and he was only going to use the harness once so we rented.

http://kidsflysafe.com/

 

[CanuckTraveller]

I'm a Canadian car seat tech who has flown with car seats many times.
1. Car seats must be approved for use on aircraft. The poster who said she travels with her seat and manual is absolutely right, just highlight the bit about airline approval before you go so it's easy to find when needed I have only been asked on West Jet to show my certification sticker (the Canadian 213.X sticker) but never to prove the seat was approved for airline use. However, Britax seats are commonly used on airlines, so that may have been why.
2. Britax seats are a bit of a pain on aircraft because they have a solid plastic belt path. Other seats, like the Diono/Radian don't, so the aircraft buckle can be released easily. The trick to Britax seats is to ask for a belt extender and keep one of the release buckles outside the belt path. I taught this trick to a few flight attendants who thanked me profusely However, I would never give up travelling with my Britax for the sole fact it has built in lock offs, and when I'm in Mexico installing my seats, I don't have to worry about how long it will take me We used our Marathon onboard aircraft until DS2 was 4 years old. He's a little guy, so we kept him in the restraint and we were still within the airline's regulations.
3. The CARES restraint is loved by some, hated by others. There are many reports of kids "submarining" or slouching in the restraint and being choked by the chest clip. Definitely a situation where you want to consider all options before you go.
4. About rearfacing infants...the child restraint has to be installed as if it was being installed in a car using a lapbelt, so infants need to be rearfacing. There are some extended rf folks who cannot rf their children on an aircraft without obstructing the seat in front, so they ff for airline use only. This is mainly an issue with rf Diono/Radians because they are so tall and tend to install at a very reclined angle on aircraft unless you use the angle adjuster or brace against a bulkhead. On an aircraft, you are less concerned about head excursions and more concerned about keeping the child from being thrown around the aircraft...thus why there are no top tethers for ff installations.

I have found very supportive airline staff and people who thought I was a royal PITA I found having my documentation ready, including my manual stating the seat was airline approved, as well as paper or digital copy of the airline's own policy on child restraint use on board very helpful. I'm also very clear on what I'm asking to do and how I propose to do it, staying within the regulations of the airline I'm using. Again, my experiences have been on West Jet, Air Canada and US Air, but from what I've read on car-seat.org and discussions with other car seat techs in my area, they are pretty common.

 

[5mouseketeersforus]

Canucktraveller - very informative post. Thanks.