For those who take carseats on plane???

[Zoesmama03]

If your child is under 30lbs would you rear face them?

I'm just wondering if I should rear face her to prevent her from kicking the seat in front. Do you think that would work. She is 27 lbs so well with in the the weight requirements for her seat to rear face and she is also still on a harness slot that rear faces.

Should I do rear facing on plane even though she forward faces in car now??

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

If so I'd do it on the plane. Otherwise I wouldn't. I think the key to keeping a toddler comfortable on the plane is to have the experience seem as familiar as possible (at least it was with mine). I'd rather deal with a happy toddler occaisionally kicking the seat in front of them, than a cranky miserable one who's upset because they can't see anything, and because their legs are folded up.

 

[Colinsmom]

You could, but may get resistance from the person in front of you (can't recline their seat) and the flight attendants. If she's under the weight limit for FF the seat, then you can point that out to the FA since you are required to use a car seat on the airplane following the car seat's instructions. But since she's 30lbs, you probably wouldn't get too far with your argument.

Yes, it would keep her from kicking the seat, but I find that taking off DS's shoes and reminding him (sometimes a lot, I'll admit) not to kick works fine too. I've sat in front of plenty of adults that were more annoying than a 2-3 year old, believe me!!

 

[Zoesmama03]

Oh I wanted to add that she DOES kick the seats in front of her in cars. We've been working on it but she still does.

 

[ptslp]

We do whatever we would do in the car. That is what I am planning for our trip in September as well. You could do rear-facing, but then the seat has to be more reclined- will your dd be comfortable not sitting up like she usually does?

 

[Zoesmama03]

You could, but may get resistance from the person in front of you (can't recline their seat) and the flight attendants. If she's under the weight limit for FF the seat, then you can point that out to the FA since you are required to use a car seat on the airplane following the car seat's instructions. But since she's 30lbs, you probably wouldn't get too far with your argument.

Yes, it would keep her from kicking the seat, but I find that taking off DS's shoes and reminding him (sometimes a lot, I'll admit) not to kick works fine too. I've sat in front of plenty of adults that were more annoying than a 2-3 year old, believe me!!

Good thought! Never thought of that they may like an occasional kick over not being able to recline far.

If the flight attendants will be picky since she is so close to 30 lbs, I won't even try and just use lots of reminders.

 

[Zoesmama03]

We do whatever we would do in the car. That is what I am planning for our trip in September as well. You could do rear-facing, but then the seat has to be more reclined- will your dd be comfortable not sitting up like she usually does?

Also didn't think of that she does NOT like to recline in strollers very far. Was just thinking of those that will sit in front of us.

 

[maciec]

My ds (2) does the same thing. There are 4 of us flying so dd and dh sit infront of ds and I on the plane. So when he starts kicking its either dd or dh's seat that he is kicking instead of some strangers seat.

 

[Zoesmama03]

My ds (2) does the same thing. There are 4 of us flying so dd and dh sit infront of ds and I on the plane. So when he starts kicking its either dd or dh's seat that he is kicking instead of some strangers seat.

I would do that but unfortunately its just her and I. Dh is driving with my brother(we are moving there so we need to get our stuff there somehow) there.

 

[amarberry]

When we flew with our DD in April, I want to say that the instruction booklet for the car seat recommended that she face forward because she was over 20 lbs....despite the fact that she was under a year. I can't say for sure because figuring out the carseat for the plane was DH's job for getting ready for vacation, but I do remember that we were both surprised because it was different than what was recommended for cars. If you still have your instruction booklet, see what they recommend.

 

[cwnhokie]

I would do whatever you do normally. We took carseats for both DS2 and DS4 even though we didn't have to, because I was afraid if it were different from the car then they would think they could get up. Same seat, same rules as the car. I had planned and over planned it, packed a bag of treats and books and stuff for each of them. Gave them medicine for their ears, had all kinds of chewy stuff in case their ears hurt. After all the worrying and planning... the landing gear went up on the plane and their eye lids went down. They slept the entire way, I had to wake them up so they could see us land.

 

[Berrygood]

If your child is under 30lbs would you rear face them?

she is also still on a harness slot that rear faces.

Should I do rear facing on plane even though she forward faces in car now??

What kind of seat do you have? Some seats (although I know Britax seats are an exception) don't have the proper reinforcements on the lower harness slots for forward facing so if she is FF in the car, you probably should put the straps in the upper slots. For FF the harness should be at or ABOVE the shoulders, for RF the harness should be at or BELOW the shoulders. Please check your owner's manual to make sure the harness slots you are currently using are rated for forward facing.

If your seat is rated for a higher rear facing limit, then by all means put her rear facing on the plane. As another posted mentioned, the person in front of the the car seat won't be able to recline their seat, but stand your ground. There should be sticker on the seat with the RF weight limits so you can show that to anyone that questions you. Although I can't remember why, rear facing on the plane is more important than in the car. You should be aware that you can't be seated in the exit row or in front of or behind an exit row with a car seat and the car seat must be in the window seat.

I found it easier to entertain my DD on the plane when she was rear facing, so despite the looks from the passenger in front of her and a request from the FA that I remove her from the seat so that passenger could recline their seat, I refused. I had paid for her ticket and felt entitled to have her as safe as she could be.

 

[all4fun]

This site has tips on installing the seat on the airplane you might find helpful:
Car seat Installation tips for airplane and there is also a link on the same page about rear-facing on airplanes: Click here. Btw, if you're using your seat according to manufacturer instructions and you want to rear-face your child (that is still within the limits of the seat) then you have every right to do so. I'm not suggesting arguing with the FA's because I know they have the authority to throw you off the plane if you're beligerent, but they push the issue with you and you push back a little, they might just leave you alone. You can also print off the article I linked above to show them. Just because someone in front of you can't recline their seat is not a good enough reason, IMO.

 

[NotUrsula]

The reason that rear-facing is more important on a plant is the seat pitch; they are so close that it is likely that a front-facing child might hit his head on the seat in front, even if restrained.

That same seat pitch might defeat you, however, when trying to rear-face a toddler seat. Many of them are just too big to rear-face in a plane, depending on what the seat pitch happens to be. If you can't get it into the space rear-facing, you can't secure it. Infant seats are usually fine, but toddler seats can be iffy because of their size.

BTW, showing an FA any kind of privately published article is useless and will not help your case at all. The only kind of written info they must respect is a copy of the most *CURRENT* FAA rule on the subject. Note that the FAA rules linked in the article above are not the most current. Even though there have been no changes to that particular subpart since then, be sure that anything you print as evidence is the most current info that exists.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

What kind of seat do you have? Some seats (although I know Britax seats are an exception) don't have the proper reinforcements on the lower harness slots for forward facing so if she is FF in the car, you probably should put the straps in the upper slots. For FF the harness should be at or ABOVE the shoulders, for RF the harness should be at or BELOW the shoulders. Please check your owner's manual to make sure the harness slots you are currently using are rated for forward facing.

That's a good point. There's a good chance that in order for her to be safe RF you'd have to remove the harness and rethread it, and then do the same before reinstalling it in the car at the airport. If so I'd probably elect to forward face her.