Will My Car Seat Fit?

[orlosipher]

We will be flying to WDW via Southwest Airlines with our 34 pound, almost 3 year-old DS. Has anyone ever used a Cosco Alpha Omega car seat on a plane? If so, did it fit okay in the plane seat, or was it too wide? I'm starting to think we may need to buy a smaller car seat for the flight!

T.I.A.!

 

[jlc1012]

Sorry I don't know the answer to your question, but I just wanted to let you know that there is a recall on that carseat. If you go to Djgusa.com it tells you what to do.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Yikes, I think that's the carseat that we have. Yes, it fit on the airplane fine, but I need to look into that recall.

T&B

 

[Ellester]

If it doesn't fit, you can check it and just have your ds use the seatbelt. My 2 yo dd was just fine sitting in the regular airplane seat belted.

 

[DD2Disney]

That is the car seat we have. It fits fine and I have had it on 3 different airlines including Southwest.

Tricia

 

[orlosipher]

Thanks everyone for the news that the seat will fit, and thanks also for the information about the recall. I will have to check on that right away!

 

[all4fun]

I have that car seat too.

Here's the link to the web site where you can check your specific car seat model #.

http://www.coscojuvenile.com/safety_notices.asp

HTH!
Cheryl

 

[orlosipher]

Thanks for the link!

 

[all4fun]

just got back from WDW and took our Cosco Alpha Omega.

We flew Delta -- MD-80 or -90 (can't remember) and Boeing 757.

We used it rear facing as our ds is still too small to sit forward facing. In the MD airplane, unfortunately the seat aisles are so close that the head rest was touching the seat in front of us and the gentleman in that seat couldn't lean back (said he didn't care) and also every time he shifted in his seat it would move ds, which was a bother once he was sleeping and I really didn't want him to wake up (didn't want to deal with a fussy baby!). Also, I couldn't get the seat at the correct angle so when ds fell asleep he head tilted forward and he kept jerking awake (like when you're sitting up and you head dips when you fall asleep). I finally wedged a little airline pillow under his chin so he head would quit dipping which was actually keeping him from falling asleep. The connecting flight to Orlando was on the 757. We were in the middle aisle. The seat fit better on this flight. There was a child in front of us (also in a carseat) so we didn't have to worry about the headrest touching as much. That flight was much shorter and easier.

Width-wise it fit ok. I did remove the base before departing for the airport. The molded plastic sides of the seat are rather wide and I couldn't put the armrest back down after it was installed. On the way back we just put it forward facing because we were flying at night and I didn't want to inconvenience the person in front of us again and ds seemed ok that way. (He's almost reached the age/weight limit to be f/f, btw). Once the seat was installed f/f it was even more upright than in the r/f position, so ds was having a hard time sleeping that way. (this was a 4 hour flight). Once we had made our connecting flight home he wouldn't stop crying so I ended up holding him and he fell asleep in my arms. I held him thru landing at our home airport.

Well sorry this was so long. I hope this helps anyone who is wondering about this car seat and how well it works. We're thinking of buying a new carseat that's more suited for air travel. If anyone has any good suggestions I'd be open to hearing them. I read on another thread that the Cosco Touriva works well so we are looking at that.

HTH!

 

[owensamo]

We have an Eddie Bauer 3-in-1, which is a re-branded Alpha Omega. We considered taking it with us on our upcoming flight to WDW (next week, yay!) but when my husband called Southwest, they said that the car seet had to be less than 18 inches across at the widest point. The Eddie Bauer was 19.5 inches at the widest point, so we decided to take our other car seat (Graco Euro) instead.

Different airlines have different width requirements for car seats. Also, if your child is big enough (ie, larger than our <20lb 2 year old - I think near 40lb), you may be able to just check the seat through and let the child sit with the lap belt if the seat doesn't fit.

Mur!

 

[ValerieK]

We used our Britax seat when we flew down to WDW and it fit the sit, but the tray table would not go down all the way. It was very frustrating for DD3 who wanted to color, but couldn't. We ended up checking her carseat on the way back, she was a lot happier and could color.

 

[dijid]

I've traveled a lot with carseats, and the ones that "fit" best IMO are the ones that go straight on the seat - ie they don't have a base that raises them up a little bit. If your child is over 22lbs, you could get something like the Graco CarGo seat that is a forward facing seat that converts from a 5pt harness to a belt positioning booster. It can only be used with the 5pt harness on a plane.

It's much harder to get a carseat in rear facing on a plane. (And on small, commuter airplanes I've found it doesn't always work.) The height of the carseat is a factor and something like the Alpha Omega is going to be tougher to install than a shorter rear facing seat.

 

[Barb D]

Originally posted by owensamo
We have an Eddie Bauer 3-in-1, which is a re-branded Alpha Omega. We considered taking it with us on our upcoming flight to WDW (next week, yay!) but when my husband called Southwest, they said that the car seet had to be less than 18 inches across at the widest point. The Eddie Bauer was 19.5 inches at the widest point, so we decided to take our other car seat (Graco Euro) instead.

Different airlines have different width requirements for car seats. Also, if your child is big enough (ie, larger than our <20lb 2 year old - I think near 40lb), you may be able to just check the seat through and let the child sit with the lap belt if the seat doesn't fit.

Mur!

I've used my Eddie Bauer on Southwest. I wonder if they changed the rules? I don't recall anybody with a measuring tape there measuring them!