Using a car seat on a long-haul flight - URGENT!

[GeorgiaPeach]

We're flying to Australia in FIVE days time and have just discovered our car seat is unsuitable for use in the plane (too wide and doesn't use a lap belt routing). Does anyone have any experience of using a 9-18kg forward-facing car seat on a plane? Which make and model did you use? The Singapore Airlines seats are 17" wide and 7"-8" from the bottom of the seat to the arm rest. The main problem seems to be whether the car seat is narrow enough to clear the arm rest before its arms splay out wider than 17". Our 15-month-old can only fall asleep in his car seat and is a total wriggler. If I can't find a seat to fit, the 24-hour journey's going to be a nightmare. Please help. Thanks.

I don't know if it helps, but British Airways use Britax seats. I imagine there isn't much difference between major carriers' cattle-class seats? Have you tried looking at Singapore Airlines website? That's where I found the info on BA's carseat policy.

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In answer to the comment from 'bloss' re Australian car seats - we've got a car seat rental organised for when we arrive in Australia. And thanks to 'pretty candles' for the info on BA (the Singapore Airlines website is pretty hopeless on anything to do with children). Any more help from anyone would be appreciated. Don't know how I ended up in 'Allergies'!

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What about the Civil Aviation Authority? That's the British organisation, but there must be something similar in other countries.

When we flew BA with a 15mo we managed to book bulkhead seats, which meant that we were given a seat which fitted onto the bulkhead for the baby. It was like a lightweight version of a carseat, and dd was very comfortable in it. She had to be on my lap with the special seatbelt for takeoff and landing. Do SA provide anything similar? Then you wouldn't need to worry. OTOH, it sounds like you've booked a seat for your baby?

We've flown all over the world short and longhaul with a car seat ... used from about 15 months old up until our last trip a few weeks ago when dd was 3 and half. The critical thing is to buy one that has a sticker on it saying it is approved for use in car and aircraft and don't remove the sticker. Lots of airlines ask to see it, including Singapore Airlines some of the time. Ours was bought in Asia and is a US version of Britax so reckon Britax would be good. You can also buy a pushchair that is a car seat (it's basically a car seat with wheels and a handle you pull up.) It's a bit ugly but it's quite good for pushing them around airport in. Good luck on the flight. Singapore Airlines are great with kids... have you ordered a kids meal. You have to preorder or they don't provide them.