Child restraint on airplanes?

[Darci]

Hi all, Of course, waiting till the last minute to get set for our trip to GAFE next week!!

I have a question...we have a seat for Morgan, but not for Mason. We plan to check Mason's car seat so that we have it available when we get there for use in the rental car.

Now...I don't know what we are supposed to do on the airplane for Morgan? How do you find out what the approved seats are that we could strap into his seat? We are hoping to get him a different seat to use out there...for our vehicles we have the Britax Husky and it is just way too big to take along.

Morgan weighs about 45 pounds, and is 41 inches tall.

Help!!

[Darci]

OH...I just looked through my folder, and according to the FAA it looks like if they are over 40 pounds they can just use the airplane seatbelt on the plane.

Have others done this?

[spring]

Hi Darci,

We no longer take car seats onboard the airplane for our 3 and 5 year old children - the 5 year old is 40 lbs and our 3 year old is 32 lbs - they use the regular airplane seatbelts and we haven't had any questions from the flight attendants, and I never realized until I read your post that there was a weight requirement! Anyway, I do worry that it's not as safe as a car seat, but their car seats are just too large and the kids do better for the full flight in the regular seats, so it's worked out ok for us. We've traveled across the US and also back and forth to China twice using no car seats on the plane.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

spring

ps - the one thing that does make me uncomfortable is you just don't seem to get quite as tight of a fit as an adult does, and when you're in the air between take-off and landing and the kids are stretching from here to there all over the place they really aren't terribly secure in the belt - it's around them but they usually insist on a large amount of wiggle room.

[ShellP]

Hey Darci

Make sure you find me at the event. Last year I missed Donna-can't figure out how that happpened, but...

Anyway, Morgan should be fine in a seat. Jake is about the same size and has always just sat in the seat with a belt. If you were to take the Husky, you wouldn't be able to use it on the plane. It is not FAA approved. Did you reserve a booster seat for him with your car rental agency? If not, do you have a booster seat that you could easily bring and check with your checked luggage so that you have it when you arrive in NJ, or could you borrow one from a friend just for the trip?

As for Mason, when you check in ask the policy for empty seats. In the past I have carried Abby's seat to the gate and if there was room on the flight, I was allowed to bring her seat on the plane and strap her in, even though she was flying on a lap ticket. (She does much better in the car seat than on my lap.) If there wasn't space, I gate checked the car seat along with my stroller and picked it up on my way off the plane.

Good luck and have a safe trip! See you soon

Shell

[Leanne]

Hey Darci,

When we flew to CA in February we did not bring a car seat for Joey on the plane. We checked it with the luggage to use in the rental car. We did buy a seat for Alicia and used her carseat because she is just too squirmy to sit on our laps.

[Jami]

Hi there,
When we took the girls to Indiana in February, I had both car seats with me. Leila was in her Britax Wizard and Liliana was still in the infant seat. On the way up, there was 1 spare seat so we put Leila's car seat in it and held Liliana. On the way home, we were lucky there were 2 spare seats, so I was able to use both car seats. My girls do much better in their car seats as they are used to them. I have to say, though, it was a royal pain to attach the seats, particularly the huge Britax Wizard...it took me 10 minutes! I do have a neat gadget I used for Leila when she was still very small...it is called a Baby BAir....You put the baby in it....kind of like a snuggly, but not as big, then you snap it to your own seatbelt so if there is turbulance at least the baby won't fly off your lap. I would think if Morgan is 40 lbs, though, he would do fine in the regular seat belt. Good Luck...it's such a treat flying with little ones!!!!!!

[kec]

We just flew last week and Karli sat in her booster. I think she did better in the booster than she would have in the seat. I would get a seat for Kacie the next time we fly just because it is easier than holding a squirmy baby on my lap(last year, Karli had my legs black and blue from walking on them!).
We also gate checked Kacie's car seat just in case our luggage was lost, we wanted to make sure that we had the car seats when we got there! We also gate checked 2 strollers without a problem.
Have a fun time!! Wish we could be there. Is there a get together on Sunday for those not going to GAFE?

[BC-Tracik]

Darci ... You don't need to take the seat on board but Like Kari said I would gate check the car seats if you can... unless you have too much stuff already. You really can't take morgans seat on the plane, I believe the Husky is too wide for an airplane seat.. a roundabout/marathon is a tight fit and the Husky is wider.

Have a wonderful time

[foelschg]

We haven't used Maia's seat on a plane since the summer she was 2 1/2 -- she always just uses a regular car seat.

I too, would suggest gate checking the car seat (not luggage checking it) since it's less likely to get "lost" that way.

Gail

[capeach]

Cam doesn't use his carseat on the plane, but we bring it and check it for use at our destination.