What car seat can you use on planes for a 1yo?

[OriginalUsername3]

Using aibu for traffic. Does anyone have a car seat they use on planes? I cannot for the life of me actually find one. Googling "car seat for planes" just brings up loads that aren't actually suitable. Driving me mad! Would like one that's actually pretty safe, and preferably rear facing, in cars aswell as being suitable for planes.

You can pay for a seat for under 2 which you can then use a car seat on. The difficulty is finding a car seat which fits the safety requirements which is what OP is trying to do.

I think it's more popular to do this in the US - I actually watched a video in it yesterday where they strapped the seat to a trolley to pull it through the airport. I've never seen anyone do similar in the UK and most people just do the lap route for under 2's.

You can pay for a seat for a car seat to go on. There are only a few that fit on planes.
It's more common in the us for kids to travel in carseats than in the UK on planes..

Each airlines has different policies so you would need to speak to them.

You can put carseats in the hold if you were driving on the other side and needed them.
Just beware some countries have different rules than we do on car seats.

Yeah, they can be but nobody does that in reality

For flights leaving UK, the car seat used to need to be CAA (Civil Air Authority) approved. This was the case when I flew into Heathrow with my 11 month old securely strapped into his American approved car seat, then couldn't have him in it for take off on the Heathrow to Manchester leg as it was not CAA approved. This was 30 years ago but is worth Googling to see if they sell "CAA" approved car seats still. Having the terminology might help with the search.

Lots of people who clearly never fly on these threads
If you have a baby in their own seat then you can fit a car seat, it depends by airline and you need to check. It is very common.
Some seem to also be mini pull along wheel seats that then go into the plane seat.

Most kids are wrigglers, you just have to occupy them. Put car seat in the hold or hire one when you hire a car. If you paid for a seat you could take a booster seat and pad around him with blankets?

I've seen tik toks recently of people taking car seats and their kids sleeping peacefully in them on a plane. I've never seen it myself and having just travelled, both my young sounds (3 and 10 months) slept most of the way!

It looks like it would be a huge faff to cart around

Yes you can use a car seat on a plane, but you might struggle to find one that fits the criteria (which should be on website). But it very much is a thing.

No way in hell would I use a hire car seat when going abroad or even in this country tbh unless it was from a specialist seat hire place, not the car hire company. They are invariably cheap and badly stored and treated. You can take your own or buy one for the purpose: Joie Steadi is a good, cheap RF seat for travelling with if you don't want to take your main seat (understandably).

I had a reversible one I used on planes, too long ago to be any use giving the details but they did exist. I would take a hbb with harness for older dd too (we used them from 3 back then)

Paging @BertieBotts who will undoubtedly have something of value to add, as her knowledge on car seats is unrivalled!

The issue is safety on takeoff and landing. If the car seat is not approved for, use on a plane, by the correct air authority, then you will not be allowed to have the child in it during take off or landing. My seat was FAA (Federal Air Authority) approved and was allowed for use in the USA. My son was strapped in on take off and landing with no issues, on both legs of the journey that started from US airports. The seat was not CAA (Civil Air Authority) - the authority in Europe - approved, thus not allowed when flying between 2 UK airports to complete the journey.

This website dates from 2020 so should be more up to date than my memories.

uk.joiebaby.com/2020-guide-to-flying-with-car-seats-and-pushchairs/

We took ours, britax and maxi cosi but it was a long time ago. IIRC they had to be airline approved to use for take off/landing/turbulence.

I have an FAA approved group 1 seat, bought for taxis and hire cars when we lived stateside since our normal one is a beast but it’s really upright! I wouldn’t dream of taking it on a plane. Instead I book an extra seat if it’s economy. LO on my lap for take off/landing then use the extra seat for them once airborne. But if you really did want to go down the in flight restraint route then I’d hands down go with a CARES harness and if necessary stick the car seat in the hold.

It depends where you are flying but there are FAA or TUV approved seats. The TUV approved list is here: www.tuv.com/landingpage/en/manufacturer-of-child-seats/

OK, here is "Which" on the subject. Being Which, it should be believable!

www.which.co.uk/news/article/can-you-take-a-child-car-seat-on-a-plane-a4rFO0X2vRuW

We have a recaro seat for flying, its 43cm and fairly light, so easy to use on the plane, easy to get in and out of cars etc.

Usually air lines allow extra baggage allowance for small children. We always packed the car seat in box it arrived in and put it in the hold with the buggy.
Have never seen a car seat in place in the air

I don’t think that necessarily applies anymore, the BA website for instance has a list of safety requirements and must be CAA approved isn’t actually on it. Obviously every airlines differs though so always good to check!

www.britishairways.com/en-it/information/family-travel/seating#childseatsandcarrycots

We looked for one but couldn’t find anything that would work for a child over 1 that would go in the aeroplane seat.

When we fly with young DC we avoid travelling by car, like PP I don’t trust the car seat not to be damaged in the hold and also don’t trust the ones you can hire.

There are lots of places that you can access by train and buses in other countries.

My experience is 30 years out of date so may well no longer be correct. The advice from airline websites is probably the best source.

It’s a very American thing to take car seats on planes, in all my years of travel I’ve never once seen anyone with a car seat on the plane. The car seat (if you choose to take one) goes in the hold or you hire one with the hire car?

you would need to buy the additional seat of course, but if you’re willing to do that, do it anyway and have them on your knee for take off and landing and entertain them then sit/lay them on the spare seat

This seems quite useful:
www.madeformums.com/reviews/the-best-child-car-seats-to-use-on-airplanes/#start

Look up airplane beds, inflatable baby airplane beds, you could hold the baby for take off and landing then use the bed during the flight.