Another car seat/plane question

[4orm]

When we flew out of YYZ in Oct on WestJet we were told we couldn't use our car seat because it didn't have the American sticker because we were flying to the US. I argued that it had the Canadian sticker and we were departing Canada on a Canadian plane but he was hearing none of it. It's the Britax Advocate, if that make any difference. Do Canadian car seats have the American sticker? I checked ours and it has the 3 birds making the maple left logo Canadian one. Will we not be able to use this seat for future flights? I know it's recommended that children use a car seat in flight and would like to use one when next we fly.

 

[connorsmom911]

I had the same issue coming the other way a few years ago. Our Cdn car seat was questioned by the US airport and they weren't going to let us fly with it, but I stood my ground and explained that a car seat bought in Canada isn't going to have any US stickers on it because it's from CANADA! But I just showed them the CDN stickers and explained that this was our equivalent to the US departments.

Sheesh, in a lot of cases our safety standards are better than the US! IE. In Ontario kids have to be in a booster seat until they are 8 yrs old (or meet height/weight requirements) but in Florida it's only 5 yrs old.

 

[sjsjbrook]

I bought the CARES kids fly safe belt for flying. It is accepted in most countries now. Best of all it is light weight and easy to travel with.

It was designed by a grandmother after watching her daughter struggle to carry the car seat and the child.

You can buy them or rent them

 

[4orm]

Thanks!
Next time (if it happens) I'll demand a manager and make sure I have the printed documentation about what is and is not allowed.

I was thinking of getting a CARES for Europe but when flying to Florida we rent a car. We'd much rather have our own car seat than rent a subpar one from the rental agency so we might as well use it on the plane too - if they'd let us lol!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks for the info shared here. My daughter just turned 2 last week so I will now be purchasing a seat for her. I had assumed that I'd be able to use her car seat on both CDN and US flights.

A friend has a Cares system that I was going to borrow for our Disney trip when I didn't need a car seat on the other end but I think I'll borrow it earlier just in case we run into trouble on our California trip. I'd planned on her sitting in her car seat both flights to and from California (as she will be more comfortable and hopefully sleep! ) but will have the Cares harness tucked away if we run into trouble.