Flying questions

[BeckityBobbidyBoo!]

Hi, New to these boards, but I have a few questions. Do you know Britax carseats are allowed on planes? Also we have an over the counter antihistamine for peanut allergic child, will I be able to carry this on the plane?

 

[RoadTripFanatic]

I am a former owner of a Britax carseat and they work great on the airplane. I would double check your manual to make sure but I'm very sure they are still plane legal. Make sure you buy a carry bag to drag that thing through the airport. It will make your life easier. You can take an anti-histamine onto the plane. If it is over 3 oz you really do have to declare it. Just put all liquid medications into a ziplock bag so you can show them to security. Last time I flew my meds were 4oz and I had to show them to security to get clearance to take them on the plane. I had no problems. ALSO I would inform the flight attendent that you have a child w/ a peanut allergy. I think they try to avoid the peanut thing these day but it's always good to let them know.

 

[LAL77]

Last trip we took two Britax Marathons on the plane and we'll never do it again. The car seats are made for airplanes but as you know they are HUGE and HEAVY. Even if you can manage to get it through security and to your gate, once you have it installed in the seat your child is going to be very close to the seat in front of him and lifted very high. The tray table will not go down flat (which really ticked my toddlers off) and they can easily kick-kick-kick the seat in front of them. We spent the whole flight stopping them from doing this. Anyway - sorry for the strong opinion. Just the memory of this experience raises my blood pressure!

 

[kellera]

I have a tiny 5 year old, and I am wondering if a plane is the same as a car...do all kids that need a car seat in a vehicle need one in a plane? Or can I just buckle her into the seatbelt? She uses a booster seat right now here at home. Will they let me take my stroller, or do I have to check it? I just hate to have to be without it! We have a 6 month old (riding in my lap, but will be with car seat).

Thanks!

 

[maxtomsmom]

I have a tiny 5 year old, and I am wondering if a plane is the same as a car...do all kids that need a car seat in a vehicle need one in a plane? Or can I just buckle her into the seatbelt? She uses a booster seat right now here at home. Will they let me take my stroller, or do I have to check it? I just hate to have to be without it! We have a 6 month old (riding in my lap, but will be with car seat).

Thanks!

I have a 5 yr old and they can use just the seatbelt on the plane. No special seat is needed. My DS liked the tray and the ability to color and play his Leapster games. You can gate check your stroller which means you take the stroller right up to the point of entry onto the plane. They will give you a tag to claim it at the end. I believe you can gate check car seats as well, but check with your airline carrier to make sure. Strollers, car seats, diaper bags and purses are not counted as carry ons. Neither are laptops or briefcases. You can bring milk or formula with you in a bottle or sippy cup for your infant. I hope this helps.

 

[GatorGal]

Do you know Britax carseats are allowed on planes?

In order to be allowed on board for use, the car seat must have a sticker from the manufacturer printed in RED that the seat is approved by the FAA for use on airplanes. Britax does have some seats that are not approved, the Husky is one as it is too wide to fit in the seat. I know that the marathon and wizard are FAA approved. You should check your seat to make sure the sticker is there and know where it is in case you are asked by a flight attendent.

 

[kellera]

I have a 5 yr old and they can use just the seatbelt on the plane. No special seat is needed. My DS liked the tray and the ability to color and play his Leapster games. You can gate check your stroller which means you take the stroller right up to the point of entry onto the plane. They will give you a tag to claim it at the end. I believe you can gate check car seats as well, but check with your airline carrier to make sure. Strollers, car seats, diaper bags and purses are not counted as carry ons. Neither are laptops or briefcases. You can bring milk or formula with you in a bottle or sippy cup for your infant. I hope this helps.

Thank you so much for the info...I will definitely take your advice and gate check my stroller and just check the seat with our luggage...I never knew that diaper bags didn't count as carry ons! Learn something new everyday!!!

Amy

 

[RoadTripFanatic]

I have a 5 yr old and they can use just the seatbelt on the plane. No special seat is needed. My DS liked the tray and the ability to color and play his Leapster games. You can gate check your stroller which means you take the stroller right up to the point of entry onto the plane. They will give you a tag to claim it at the end. I believe you can gate check car seats as well, but check with your airline carrier to make sure. Strollers, car seats, diaper bags and purses are not counted as carry ons. Neither are laptops or briefcases. You can bring milk or formula with you in a bottle or sippy cup for your infant. I hope this helps.

Please make sure you check with your airline to make sure certain items are not counted as carry-ons. Some airlines count purses/backpacks/briefcases/laptops as personal items and limit you to one.

 

[NotUrsula]

Strollers, car seats, diaper bags and purses are not counted as carry ons. Neither are laptops or briefcases.

4 out of 6 not true. Carseats and gate-checked strollers *are* not counted as carryons by US domestic airlines, but the rest certainly are counted. You are allowed one carryon (as in a 22" rollaboard size maximum) + one personal item (no larger than a briefcase) per ticketed passenger. 2 containers is the maximum limit, though if you can consolidate and stay within the size limit, that's fine. The idea is that you are allowed to put the larger bag in the overhead bin, but the smaller one must be able to fit completely under the seat in front of you.

Lap babies are not ticketed, and they do not get a luggage allowance at all. In the case of a lap baby, the diaper bag is the adult's "personal item" -- well, that is presuming that the diaper bag is small enough to fit under a seat. If it is a really huge diaper bag, it will use up your carryon allowance. If Mom needs a separate purse in that situation, she had better make sure it is small enough to fit INSIDE the diaper bag.

 

[jessica52877]

I think that the diaper bag, laptop, purse thing is not a set in stone rule. If I fly by myself with my son I have a diaper bag, lap top and purse before I would even think of carrying anything else on, oh let's not forget the carseat too. I have never had a problem and no he didn't have a ticket at the time to count as "his".

 

[NotUrsula]

Someone let you slide. While that was nice for you, I'm sure, it isn't a great idea to lead others to expect that they will also be allowed to bend the rules.

I've stood in the security line times past counting while people with babies were told to either consolidate their stuff into two bags or go back to check some of it. At my airport TSA enforces the rule, and you are not getting past them with more than 2 bags per ticket. (They will let you take a coat, but that's it.)

Anyway, limiting what you carry is always a good idea when travelling with a tot. You need at least one hand free to deal with the child, and you cannot do that if you are loaded down with 4 bags plus a carseat and a stroller. I don't travel with a baby now, but I'm an old hand at it. In those days I put my license and BP in my pocket and my string wallet inside my diaper bag, then stashed the backpack diaper bag in the seat of my carseat (which was inside my backpack carseat satchel.) I put the satchel on my back and pushed the (otherwise empty) stroller ahead of me with the baby inside it. When we were ready to board I took the carseat and diaper bag out of the satchel, put the flattened satchel around the folded stroller, put a cover sleeve on the stroller, and gate checked it. When I got on the plane I had the diaper bag on my back, the baby on one arm, and the carseat on my other arm. One bag, always containing 24 hours of baby supplies plus a change for me.

 

[RoadTripFanatic]

I think that the diaper bag, laptop, purse thing is not a set in stone rule. If I fly by myself with my son I have a diaper bag, lap top and purse before I would even think of carrying anything else on, oh let's not forget the carseat too. I have never had a problem and no he didn't have a ticket at the time to count as "his".

The carseat is not considered part of your carry-on items. Neither is a stroller. These are items you are going to gate check or in the case of the carseat it is needed for in-flight use. You were probably allowed to do it because some airlines do not consider diaper bags as your personal item. (For example I just checked out NWAs website and it says an infant diaper bag is not considered in the count) In that case your carry-on was your laptop and your personal item was your purse. You need to be careful and check with your airline before you fly. I always made sure my purse would fit into my diaper bag so I never had to worry about having too many items.

 

[pennypooh]

I've been told at the airport that in order for my son to have a carry-on HE had to carry it himself or else I would have to check it. He was 3 years old! I would suggest calling or checking the websites of all of the airports where you will be going through security points to see what they're policies are. If you do it by phone write down the name of the person giving you the information, and date, and time when it was given...might help if you have a problem with it. I was booking flights this past week and our local airport website has a link to their policies on this, medicine, liquid makeup, etc. I would bet the others do too.

 

[maxtomsmom]

4 out of 6 not true. Carseats and gate-checked strollers *are* not counted as carryons by US domestic airlines, but the rest certainly are counted. You are allowed one carryon (as in a 22" rollaboard size maximum) + one personal item (no larger than a briefcase) per ticketed passenger. 2 containers is the maximum limit, though if you can consolidate and stay within the size limit, that's fine. The idea is that you are allowed to put the larger bag in the overhead bin, but the smaller one must be able to fit completely under the seat in front of you.

Lap babies are not ticketed, and they do not get a luggage allowance at all. In the case of a lap baby, the diaper bag is the adult's "personal item" -- well, that is presuming that the diaper bag is small enough to fit under a seat. If it is a really huge diaper bag, it will use up your carryon allowance. If Mom needs a separate purse in that situation, she had better make sure it is small enough to fit INSIDE the diaper bag.

I never intended to say that some of the items were not considered personal. I just said they don't count as carry ons. If someone has multiple people traveling usually there is no problem. We, meaning me carrying mostly everything while DH was doing the stroller and one child, had 3 carryons, a diaper bag, my purse, a shopping bag with Christmas gifts and a laptop. No problems. I also recommend checking with airlines on daily basis as things seem to change frequently.

 

[maxtomsmom]

I've been told at the airport that in order for my son to have a carry-on HE had to carry it himself or else I would have to check it. He was 3 years old! I would suggest calling or checking the websites of all of the airports where you will be going through security points to see what they're policies are. If you do it by phone write down the name of the person giving you the information, and date, and time when it was given...might help if you have a problem with it. I was booking flights this past week and our local airport website has a link to their policies on this, medicine, liquid makeup, etc. I would bet the others do too.

Let him carry it on and take his time. If the airline is going to be so picky I say give him the carry on and let him hold up the line. BTW, I carried all of my stuff and my kids. No one said a word. We also went before others. Most airlines let people traveling with infants on before others. I used Jet Blue. I know some airlines can be strict. We never checked about the child actually carrying the item on so I'm not sure if it was a rule or not.

 

[Jaymie]

I've been told at the airport that in order for my son to have a carry-on HE had to carry it himself or else I would have to check it. He was 3 years old! .

How funny is that?? I have to say, I rarely carry my own luggage. My DH almost always insists on carrying it for me. But seriously, what difference should it make "who" carries it. Each ticketed passenger should be allowed whatever the allowance is, regardless of whether he/she can carry it themselves or got help.

 

[all4fun]

We just got back from our 2wk trip to WDW and had layovers both directions and no one told us our 3yr had to carry his own stuff...and no one has ever suggested that. That just sounds silly!

I did get razzed by a couple of flight attendants though as I carried his car seat on the plane with no child in sight. I was "accused" (jokingly) of not having a child at all to which I replied there would be no way I would travel with a car seat if I didn't need to! I always board before dh and ds to get the seat set up so we are not clustered in the aisle while this job is being done and blocking others from being seated. This also allows ds a few extra minutes to run around before several hours of travel time. This trip a couple of different FA's actually offered their assistance as I boarded and deplaned with the seat, however I have to say in the past, that was not the norm. It is nice when they offer to help carry the seat to your aisle but don't count on it. They most definitely will not help you install it.

Btw, the FAA recommends kids use car seats on planes until they are at least 40lbs. It's a recommendation, not a requirement though.

This is from the FAA website:

Make sure a child safety device is approved and has "FAA Approved in Accordance with 14CFR 21.305(d), Approved for Aircraft Use Only" on it.

This site Click Here has some great installation tips.

As far as the seat being too high to use with the tray table, often most car seats do create this problem. We now use a combination seat which is a harnessed seat that converts to a booster after the harness is outgrown. Since it can be used as a BPB it doesn't have a base like convertible seats do and sits lower. The tray table works w/this seat on most of the planes we've used it on. Just thought I would mention it as there are some combo seats out there that make decent harnessed seats, are lighter weight and reasonably priced. If you're looking for a spare or backup seat anyway, they also make decent travel seats.

Hth.