carseats on plane

[dunbarfamily]

We always fly to Disney, and as a result, have taken lots of different aged kids and LOTS of carseats. We finally came up with a plan that worked several trips ago. My dh goes on the plane during pre-boarding, i.e. when they call the families and those needing special assistance. I hang back with the children until the very last minute. I usually work this out with the gate agent, telling them something like I don't want to be stuck on a plane with tied down kids longer than I have to. This usually gets a laugh, and they will watch and when the last possible minute comes, they'll nod to me and we walk on the plane, get seated, and start taxing a few mins later.

AirTran is terrible. We always buy our seat assignments, which kills me as we need to buy five tickets, but its worth it. One time we didn't, and they had me with the baby in one row, my dh about 5 rows behind me, our 2 year old six rows behind him on the opposite side of the plane, and our 5 year old in the very last row of the plane. When we asked the gate for help, they said to ask the attendant when we boarded, she said we had to figure it out on our own. We felt very uncomfortable asking people to change seats, but it all worked out ok. Erg. Gets my goat though that I have to pay.

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, if you're short and DH is tall, you might find it more comfy to install the carseat and have DH stay with the kidlet.

I'm 5'3" and can pretty much stand upright (though not "straight and tall") even at the window area. So when we used the carseat, I would plop it in the seat, then stand in front of it and belt it in. It wasn't *easy*, but since I fit better in that space than DH, it was easier than if DH did it.

We never had DH and DS stand back at the gate; we all boarded together, but I had DS sit in the middle and DH sit in the aisle area, until it was done. Then DS moved into the seat, I sidled to the middle, and it was all good!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well excuse me, but as you hadn't directed your reply to anyone in particular I replied. I am sorry I responded to your post.

Respectfully, there wasn't ANY criticism in the post you quoted (simply fact - that poster was responding to the original poster).

 

[kaytieeldr]

It wasn't until DH asked for the gate agent's name and badge number that he backed off. Never flew Air Tran again.

[thud]. Did you contact AirTran anyway, even without the jerk's name? It doesn't really matter HOW long ago this happened - it might not be a bad idea to recall as much identifying information as possible (date, flight number, time, description, reservation number, etc). I bet they'd LOVE to know how you were treated!!!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Erg. Gets my goat though that I have to pay.

Don't look at it like that. Consider it just a breakdown of the total ticket price - i.e. you're paying $X for the transport and $Y for the seats, for a TOTAL cost of $Z.

 

[dunbarfamily]

Don't look at it like that. Consider it just a breakdown of the total ticket price - i.e. you're paying $X for the transport and $Y for the seats, for a TOTAL cost of $Z.

YES! That's a great way to look at it!

I do that with having to pay for luggage, just add it on to the ticket price, but I didn't think of it for paying for seat assignments!

Oh, to the comment about height, I'm 5' 3" too, and my husband is 6' 7", and he installs them just fine, even with one hand. The other hand was injured several years ago, so I'm sure no matter who installs the carseat, it'll all work well! And, I stay back at the gate because with four little ones, it can get pretty chaotic!

 

[kelleyrn2000]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I'm glad that my older girls (8 and 7) will be able to help us maneuver all our gear and carryons through the airport. And since we won't be flying out of O'Hare this time (total nightmare!) it should be alot easier (we're flying Milwaukee for the first time).

 

[dsnymomof4]

OP - I have only had good experiences with Airtran. However, I must warn you that the aisle is extremely narrow and you will not be able to get the carseat through - you will have to lift it up over the seat backs. It is really a pain to carry the carseat and any other bags you might have on the plane. I understand what you mean about keeping your 2yo secure in the carseat. My DS2 is the same way and I knew that he would not just sit in the plane's seatbelt without trying to climb out. However, we flew 2 weeks ago with him and I did use the CARES harness and it was GREAT! It secured him just like his carseat seatbelt with the shoulder harness and was very easy to install and is so easy to carry with you. I would definitely recommend it. If you still choose to use the carseat, I don't think you'll have a problem installing it. Just let everyone else hang out in the next row (if available) while you're installing it. Otherwise, people will just have to be patient and wait for you to install it. It does have to go in the window seat. Good luck!

 

[bavaria]

Respectfully, there wasn't ANY criticism in the post you quoted (simply fact - that poster was responding to the original poster).

Thank you.

And since I was replying to the original post, there was no need to quote that post (and in fact on other websites it is frowned upon to do so)

I didn't realise that someone else had 'hijacked' OP's thread with questions about something else.

 

[onyx8]

You don't need to pay for seat assignments - FAA regulations state that children under age 4 MUST be seated with at least one guardian. People will be moved to accomodate you if necessary.

 

[crashbb]

You don't need to pay for seat assignments - FAA regulations state that children under age 4 MUST be seated with at least one guardian. People will be moved to accomodate you if necessary.

Can you please provide a link to this regulation? It is my understanding that the only rule is that a parent must sit beside a child in a car seat.

I definitely sat apart from my parents before the age of 4.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I went ahead and paid for the seat assignments. I could see myself stressing about it for the next three months, and our airfare was still a pretty good deal for all 5 of us. Maybe we will check less luggage.

I think that was an excellent decision Now you can rest much easier.

You don't need to pay for seat assignments - FAA regulations state that children under age 4 MUST be seated with at least one guardian. People will be moved to accomodate you if necessary.

I have never seen or read this elsewhere. Can you please provide a link? I was seperated from my children when they were 3 a couple of times (I didn't put up a fuss or anything. . .).

 

[danielle.st]

You don't need to pay for seat assignments - FAA regulations state that children under age 4 MUST be seated with at least one guardian. People will be moved to accomodate you if necessary.

I don't think that is true, as according to the FAA website, the FAA does not regulate unaccompanied minors.
http://faa.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/faa...nBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9Y2hpbGQ!&p_li=&p_topview=1


If they don't even regulate whether a parent or guardian is on the plane, I can't see why they'd regulate that on is sitting with the child when they are accompanied

 

[gina_g]

OP--I thought I'd offer my advice from personal experience last year. We flew to Orlando on Air Tran with our DD who was 2 at the time. Just over a 2 hour flight. She's a very good traveler in the car, but this was her first flight. We debated forever about whether or not to take the car seat. We were using ME so the only time we would have used the seat all week would've been on the plane. To say DD is busy is a huge understatement So we thought the car seat would help on the plane, make her think she was in the car and had to sit still, etc. We couldn't even go to restaurants at this time in her life because she refused to sit still. In the end, we decided against the seat, not wanting to lug it through the airport for the flight only. To our surprise, she was an angel! She sat still for pretty much the entire flight. Not having the bulky seat there made it easier for us to get on and off the plane quicker, and reach our carryons full of toys much easier. We have joked since then about how we can simulate an airplane wherever we go just to make her sit still!! You know your family best, but I just thought I'd offer some been there/done that advice to give you another opinion.

Also as I think others have mentioned, Air Tran does not allow families to board first. It was business class first, then back row to front row. That surprised me, but I guess that's the way it is now. It helps because it's less time for the kids to be sitting on the plane, but also gives you a lot less time to get situated. And I think most Air Tran flights are pretty much full so it will be tight carrying the seat and getting it in place. Great decision to pre-select your seats. Money well spent! Good luck and have a wonderful trip

 

[NotUrsula]

You don't need to pay for seat assignments - FAA regulations state that children under age 4 MUST be seated with at least one guardian. People will be moved to accomodate you if necessary.

Not exactly. You're confusing airline policy with federal law.

The only federal law that says ANYTHING about contiguous seating on a commercial aircraft is 14CFR121.311a(2)(i), and it only applies when a carseat is being used:

... Notwithstanding the preceding requirements, a child may:
(1) Be held by an adult who is occupying an approved seat or berth, provided the child has not reached his or her second birthday and the child does not occupy or use any restraining device; or
(2) Notwithstanding any other requirement of this chapter, occupy an approved child restraint system furnished by the certificate holder or one of the persons described in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, provided:
(i) The child is accompanied by a parent, guardian, or attendant designated by the child's parent or guardian to attend to the safety of the child during the flight ...

Note that that does not say anything about the age of the child using the "approved child restraint". That is where the airline policy comes in. All US domestic carriers allow children to fly as unaccompanied minors once they reach age 5. In practice, the corollary policy is that if a child has NOT reached that age, the airline will prefer that the child be seated with a responsible adult from his/her traveling party. That means that they generally will try very hard to get a child that young seated next to a parent, but unless there is a carseat involved, the airline cannot force any other passenger to move in order to get the child seated next to a parent.

BTW, on every US-based carrier that I've ever flown (and that's every domestic except Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines), the definition of "unaccompanied" means that the child has no accompanying adult (over age 14) seated in the same cabin. They define it that way to prevent passengers from seating themselves in F and leaving their young kids alone in coach. If you want to do that, you have to pay the UM fee for each child.