Does under-2 need a car seat on EasyJet?

[SkyFlyers]

Doing a slightly longer flight with EasyJet soon and a bit confused by their rules on infants having their own seats - and have had different answers from customer services.

The website seems to suggest an under-2 needs a car seat on board if they have their own seat.

Can you not have them on your lap with belt for take off / turbulence / landing - and they otherwise just sit in the seat?

I would prefer to not take a car seat with me if I don’t have to.

For context my child is 22 months so is able to sit up happily - I’ve booked the seat because they’re too big to be on my lap!

Anyone had experience of this?

Not only do I fly frequently myself, I've also worked in travel (Domestic and Europe) for 20 years and I have hand on heart never seen anyone use a car seat on a plane, nor ask me about using one onboard when booking a flight. I have occasionally booked extra seats for infants under 2 though. Various airlines.

You'll be absolutely fine OP. On your lap when the seatbelt signs are on, on the spare seat when they're not.

@InTheRainOnATrain

yes that is part two of this issue - I cannot work out if there are any seats for a child of this age which are approved in Europe.

Hoping I’m not the only person who has had this issue!

@Pineapplewaves
apols for calling you out wrong you weren’t, I was

but I don’t believe this is really an enforced rule.

What about a CARES harness? It would solve the dilemma and I think you can rent them relatively cheaply. Another plus is it fits in the nappy bag so no dragging a huge seat through the airport.

@InTheRainOnATrain yes I think that could be an option.

I think it means you have to be in the back row due to it going over the seat. That’s alright though.

More expensive stuff to buy I probably wont use…

Still intrigued about the car seat Q though. I’ll have to interrogate them on the flight and report back.

Worst that happens is he sits on your lap throughout. Unlikely though.

It's to do with the CAA rules - children under 2 need to be restrained when the seatbelt sign is on.

Acceptable forms of restraint are:
Infant belt on adult's lap
Approved car seat
CARES harness
Airline's own child seat (which are quite rare, only a couple of airlines have them, not Easyjet IIRC)

So you can book a second seat for them for the space and they can use it when the seatbelt sign is off, but if the seatbelt sign is on then they have to be on your lap.

Or you can bring a car seat on board and strap it onto their seat and then they're allowed to stay in the car seat.

The query is whether you want your DC to have a seat to sit on when you're not taking off or landing. The cheaper option is to have the DC on your knee which a child's lap belt extension to yours. If you want them to have a seat to sit on, you need to pay for a seat, whether they sit on it in a car seat or not, otherwise you're just hoping that no-one will be allocated the seat next to you.

There is a car seat air approval for Europe, it's called TUV approval.

I think the only current Group 1 seat which has this is Nachfolger Hy5 which is an inflatable rear facing seat. You also have several infant carrier type seats which have the TUV approval, some larger ones of which would fit a 22mo unless they are very big for their age.

However you also have to look at the airline's policy and a lot of them say no rear facing seats to be used on board, only forward facing. There are some older models in Group 1 (forward facing) which had TUV approval but they are all now discontinued:

Britax-Romer Eclipse
Britax-Romer Prince
Maxi Cosi Priori (I think? Unsure about this one)
Kiddy Infinity Pro
Kiddy Discovery Pro
Kiddy Guardian Pro
Kiddy Phoenixfix Pro
Diono Radian 5

You could try to get one of these seats second hand - the Eclipse is the easiest to find, as it used to be really popular/sold everywhere as a second or travel seat plus it was the most recent one to be discontinued.

The other thing with airline policy is that a lot of the time if you look at it they don't actually require the TUV approval, they just ask for ECE R44 approval, which is the (old) approval for use in cars plus for the seat to fit within certain dimensions. But the problem here is that they also say it has to be able to be fitted with lap belt, and there are no car seats currently on sale that can be fitted with lap belt because the safety regulations have tightened up, and the amount of movement you get with a lap belt fitting isn't permissible any more. The policy is also often really out of date - it's common for them to cite R44.03 (which was superceded by R44.04 in 2008 and R129 in 2018) and there aren't any R44.03 seats on the market any more, even though they are still legal to use. Even most R44.04 seats are now being discontinued as they aren't being sold in the EU any more.

Because lap belt approval doesn't work any more for road use and TUV approval doesn't make much, if any, difference to car seat sales you find car seat manufacturers don't bother with it.

So if you really want to push your luck/bend the meaning of the policy but get through on a technicality, you can take any belt fitted Group 0/1 seat which has a forward facing option if you can physically fit it with a lap belt - Joie Tilt, Joie Steadi, Graco Extend are seats I've seen people use in this way successfully. (Also Britax Two Way Elite but that's discontinued too).

I agree with you that it's poorly worded.

Basically if you've booked the seat for them then you're guaranteeing it's free and you can use it when the seatbelt sign is off, but when the seatbelt sign is on - which remember, might be most of the flight, if it's a short hop to Europe - you'll need to use the infant belt on your lap, as an under 2 is not considered old enough to legally use the seatbelt on their own seat.

It's the same scenario if you take a car seat and they say we don't approve this car seat, and put the seat into the hold.

It's fine, I was sat next to a parent doing the same last weekend.

Looking at the rules posted it is clear anyway. Only need a car seat if they are sitting in their own seat. They are not. It is a comfort seat. They are flying with you and will be sat on your lap for landing etc.

You can also book comfort seats on easy jet. If the flight is very cheap I always book a comfort seat,so you could do this and save any worry.

@MrsRobinsonsHandprints can you share the bit where it is clear about the car seat vs not bit? My reading of it seems q car seat insistent - and, I’ve had mixed messages from both easyJet customer service and online research.

I’m amazed no mumsnet user has flown with easyJet with their under-2 in their own seat - there must be some out there!

I’m currently leaning towards just turning up and asking for a lap belt, as neither shelling out for a CARES harness or dragging a car seat around ‘just in case’ really appeals.

I mean they aren’t going to chuck us off the flight. Worst case they ‘catch’ us at check in and sell the seat on.

I think the problem is that people don't want to pay for a seat for a under 2 year old, that's why not many people have done it.
My boss has a problem this year that he has to buy his grandson a seat as he turns two whilst on holiday and was complaining about it.

"On the website:
Infants sitting in their own seat will need to use a car seat for take-off and landing, and any time when asked by the crew."

I think this is a misunderstanding and it just means that, if you have booked your infant their own plane seat and wish them to actually sit in it during takeoff and landing then they will require a car seat in order to be allowed to do that. But that isn't relevant to your infant, because they will not be "sitting in their own seat" during takeoff and landing, they'll be on your lap.

As above. Buying an extra seat doesn't mean you have to use it, but if you are using it then you need to use the car seat.

It is aimed at people travelling with two children, the parent I sat next to last week was doing exactly what you want. Kid on lap when seatbelt signs on and on seat when not.

Ultimately easyjet only make things difficult to make you pay more. You've paid more than you need so it will be fine.

Under two year olds don't have an assigned seat. They sit on your lap with a seatbelt extender.

Yes and you can also purchase a seat for them if you’d rather not have them on your lap! Then typically on European airlines they can either sit in an approved car seat the whole flight, or they sit on your lap for take off/landing and in the seat when the seatbelt sign is off, other countries differ though eg the US allows any child that can sit unaided to be in their own seat at any time and they don’t have the extra seatbelt.

Lap infants aren’t very safe and in fact the only reason they haven’t been banned (at least in the US) is because it was concluded that if forced to buy a seat for the baby more families would drive and cars are more dangerous than planes. So if you can afford it then buying a seat for your baby is always a good decision both in terms of safety and comfort. No good though if you can’t work out how easyJet will let you use it due a terribly worded policy (OP’s dilemma)!

What was the outcome when flying with easyJet? I have the same dilemma- booked a seat for my 22 month old as I’ll be 26 weeks pregnant when flying. Really don’t want to take a care seat. Was sitting on your lap for take off and landing ok? Or do I need to hire a CARES restraint?

Updating this thread as a number of people have also messaged me to ask.

I wasn’t asked for anything, and they provided an infant belt for take off.

They also didn’t mind them being in their own seat during turbulence, so long as they were buckled in.

No car seat or CARES harness seems to be required for any European airline for under 2s.

Thanks @SkyFlyers for the update. I’m currently going through this with easyJet at the minute and gave up asking them as I kept getting told different things. We want to book a flight for April when our youngest will be 21 months, she’d be a nightmare on my lap the whole time. I want her on my lap for take off and landing so I can comfort her but want the space of a seat for her so we can spread out and I also don’t want to bother with a car seat or cares harness like yourself so we’re going to go for it. On their website it states you can’t book a seat for an infant on their site and need to contact customer service but when I spoke to them on live chat they said I can just book a normal child ticket when I buy our flights online and then message them to get them to put a note on the booking to say one of the children is actually an infant. How did you go about booking the infant seat? Many thanks

We flew 12 hours with BA and toddler was on our lap for take off and landing. No car seat needed

1. if you pay for a seat for your infant then you need an appropriate seat
2. if you pay tax only and don't pay for your infants seat like 99% of people then you don't need a special seat

Did you pay extra seat fare for a seat for your child? Normally it is tax only for under twos.

And an infant can only sit in a seat on their own during flight excl landing and take off if there is actually a spare seat next to you. Can't remember last time I flew and had a spare seat free next to me.

If you have booked baby a seat he will have to take off and land in his seat. My DS is tiny for his age but over 2 so last year he had to have a seat he only used for take off and landing and you can imagine how impressed he was.

@cathhux I’d give them a call and check. I think I may have booked for 3 adults then they changed the booking so it looked like I’d booked the extra one as a ‘comfort’ seat or something. It didn’t cost me any money.

@roses2 @ClassicStripe you don’t need to provide a car seat if you book a seat for an infant. You just need them secured when taking off / landing and during turbulence - which you can do on your lap with extender.

I have flown on a number of airlines doing this and it was always fine. I still am not sure I’ve ever seen someone using a car seat on a plane!