Car Seat on Plane

[justhat]

Airlines that use beverage carts do not like small children to be seated on the aisle because they can be hurt by the carts -- finger injuries, especially, are a hazard.

Is that the only reason? So not a real rule or anything then right? Glad to hear that cause not sure what I would do with the 2 of them next to each other and me so far from the baby.

 

[NotUrsula]

If by "real rule" you mean is it Federal Law, then no, it isn't. Is it part of the airline's own written safety policy? Probably. They don't publish those policies for passengers to see, so we have to take their word for it.

Either way, if the FA tells you not to do it, you cannot do it. These days ANY challenge to the instructions of an FA, no matter how polite, will get you an invitation to remove yourself from the plane. While you *could* ask her to show you the policy in her flight manual, that really isn't a practical option for the average passenger. It just is not worth it to argue with a FA, for any reason.

BTW, standard safety recommendation when one adult is travelling with two carseats in a 3-seat row is that the seat that has the longest front-to-back depth should go in the window, with the other seat in the middle and the adult on the aisle. The point is that no adult, including a parent, should have to crawl over a carseat in the event of an emergency evacuation. The only airline that I know of that consistently will allow a parent to sit between two seats is Delta. (The business about the protrusion of the seat into the pitch space is true, but most FA's prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to barriers to evacuation. Again, insisting that they check the manual is not really practical, unless your goal is to tick them off.)

 

[GEM]

We stopped taking the car seat for my little guy when he turned three. It was just too much of a pain. Before that age, I felt like he needed so that he would ber safe, not to mention contained, during the flight. By age three, despite the fact that he is small for his age, I really felt like he would be fine in the seat belt - and he was. We've done three flights since then and he's not used a car seat on any of them and he's always been very comfortable and well behaved. The belt can be tightened enough to keep him very snug. I think he's safe. He doesn't try to get out the seat or anything like that. He's able to sleep just fine with a pillow. It works out fine for us. I don't miss those days of lugging that seat around or wrestling with getting it put it correctly.

 

[jodifla]

If by "real rule" you mean is it Federal Law, then no, it isn't. Is it part of the airline's own written safety policy? Probably. They don't publish those policies for passengers to see, so we have to take their word for it.

Either way, if the FA tells you not to do it, you cannot do it. These days ANY challenge to the instructions of an FA, no matter how polite, will get you an invitation to remove yourself from the plane. While you *could* ask her to show you the policy in her flight manual, that really isn't a practical option for the average passenger. It just is not worth it to argue with a FA, for any reason.

BTW, standard safety recommendation when one adult is travelling with two carseats in a 3-seat row is that the seat that has the longest front-to-back depth should go in the window, with the other seat in the middle and the adult on the aisle. The point is that no adult, including a parent, should have to crawl over a carseat in the event of an emergency evacuation. The only airline that I know of that consistently will allow a parent to sit between two seats is Delta. (The business about the protrusion of the seat into the pitch space is true, but most FA's prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to barriers to evacuation. Again, insisting that they check the manual is not really practical, unless your goal is to tick them off.)

Wow. I'm surprised. That does seem far away to sit from an infant. How on earth can you tend to an infant's needs two seats away?

So then the choice becomes ditching the carseat for the older child.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I personally would never fly with my child not in a carseat. Turbulance can cause serious injury including death to a small child and a lap belt is not made to secure them properly. As for it being an inconvenience I have flown by myself with 2 kids in carseats and managed just fine by putting the youngest in a carrier and letting the oldest walk on a leash while I pushed the carseats in my stroller(at J.F.K no less). Difficult yes but they are worth any trouble to keep them safe. I have been on a plane where we hit turbulance so bad that we had to land and passangers taken off by ambulance due to head injuries and I could not imagine if there had been small children aboard that weren't in car seats. My youngest is 4 and we still bring his Britax with us no matter what. Not to flame but I think it is irresponsible on a parents part to not properly restrain thier child on a plane as they would in a car and I won't get started on my thoughts of lap children since I've always paid for them to have a seat and if I couldn't afford it well than we didn't need to fly anywhere obviously.

 

[bridegirl]

We have always put our kids in car seats in their own airplane seats, from infants on up. I have read so many things about infant and child injuries on planes, mostly from turblulence - it just makes me paranoid enough to deal with the lugging-the-car-seats-hassle.

On our WDW trip we just returned from last night, we used the CARES belts for all three kids and they worked out great! (Btw, our kids are 28 lbs, 36 lbs and 40 lbs)

Just an optional thought for anyone considering CARES.

Pixie dust,

Susy

 

[akrake]

I just used the CARES belts 2 weeks ago & it was great. The flight attendant hadn't seen one before and thought it was a great idea.....as long as we're using ME, I will always uses CARES....the best $75 I've spent in a long time!!

 

[justhat]

If by "real rule" you mean is it Federal Law, then no, it isn't. Is it part of the airline's own written safety policy? Probably. They don't publish those policies for passengers to see, so we have to take their word for it.

Either way, if the FA tells you not to do it, you cannot do it. These days ANY challenge to the instructions of an FA, no matter how polite, will get you an invitation to remove yourself from the plane. While you *could* ask her to show you the policy in her flight manual, that really isn't a practical option for the average passenger. It just is not worth it to argue with a FA, for any reason.

BTW, standard safety recommendation when one adult is travelling with two carseats in a 3-seat row is that the seat that has the longest front-to-back depth should go in the window, with the other seat in the middle and the adult on the aisle. The point is that no adult, including a parent, should have to crawl over a carseat in the event of an emergency evacuation. The only airline that I know of that consistently will allow a parent to sit between two seats is Delta. (The business about the protrusion of the seat into the pitch space is true, but most FA's prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to barriers to evacuation. Again, insisting that they check the manual is not really practical, unless your goal is to tick them off.)

By real rule I meant airline policy, or just what they prefer. If it's a preference then I'm thinking they won't really say anything if the alternative is an infant next to a 2yo. But if it's their policy then it's more likely that I'd have to move. Like I said, I'd obviously comply as there's really no choice, but it's less than ideal to have my infant (who was 2 months old on the flight I am talking about) 2 seats away with a fiesty toddler in the middle.

When I sat in between the 2 seats it was on Ted and Usairways. USAirways was actually extremely helpful-they helped me carry my carry ons and gate checked stuff to the plane and then the pilot and his family carried my stuff off and all the way to baggage where my mom was waiting. Delta was great too and held my son for me while I installed the carseat, but I think that had more to do with the 'cute baby factor' than anything else. Ted though actually told me that the carseat could go in any seat as long as it didn't extend past the airplane seat, which came up cause my daughter and I (no son at the time) were in a middle and aisle and a stranger was in the window. He did move though so I put her in the window that flight anyway.