Taking a car seat onto the cabin of an airplane

[Booboostoo]

As title really. Has anyone done this? Which airline was it? Did you have to prebook? Was it helpful or a hassle having it in the cabin?

Alternatively did you try to take the car seat on board and were refused by the airline?

[frenchdadintheus]

Just thought i would share my experience. I flew several times from/to usa /france and usa/mexico.
Used the carseat Combi Cocorro.
Airlines (american airlines, united, air france). while boarding the hostess will immediately frown the eyebrows and ask if the seat is approved. They only need to see the FAA sticker on the seat. Combi cocorro has also a CE sticker which is useful in france. The hostess will then stay away and will not help install the seat or provide any kind of assistance but i was never refused to board and install the seat. After few flights it gets easier and faster to install. Combi coccorro is also very light and i recommend to bring a cart for airport transit.only issue ia now i need to find a new seat as she outgrew it at 18 months...

[Loulou8613]

mummytobejuly2014 - we used our maxi cosi pebble last year when DS was 8 months. So glad that we did, definitely worth it for a long haul flight IMO. We live in the UK and my family are a 9 hour plane ride away in the US. He is by no means a heavy baby whatsoever but having him in arms for 9 hours would definitely have given me a dead arm! Plus he was crawling by 8 months and trying to sit him still on our lap whilst the seat belt sign was on, when all he wanted to do was wriggle away, was never going to end happily! I guess because he was used to being in the pebble he would quite happily sit in it quietly when he had to, and when he napped, and then we just got him out and played with him and let him crawl about when we could (we made sure we booked the bulkhead seats).

We flew on Delta - the air staff on Delta weren't familiar with the seat itself but I let them know it was FAA approved and had brought the booklet along with me that showed it could be used on board. I also phoned the airline prior to travel to check.

Another bonus of course was having our own familiar car seat to use at the other end of our journey!

Now trying to find a car seat that I can use now that he is older for flying this summer...

[mummytobejuly2014]

anyone tried maxi cosi pebble? it states it's airline approved

[tequilathief]

We are travelling with Thomson airways in a few weeks and have bought a seat for one of our 11 month twins which they did not bat an eyelid about. We have used our britax eclipse on a ba plane before (on ba recommendation, way out fine, way home a lot of stick from cabin crew but they eventually let us use it). The Britain site says it measures 46 cm but Thomson only allow 40 cm. although I have read someone has used this seat on Thomson before. Does anyone have any experience of this?
We have 5 small children and if I don't get this right it may be divorce at the boarding gate!

[Prairiecat]

I'm also keen to know if anyone has used a Britax TWE on Malaysian Airlines, flying London to Auckland? I'm paused before buying the seat to be sure it will be airline-suitable... Thanks!

[trinams]

Hi
We want to take our TWE on a Malaysian Airlines flight and just wondering if anyone had any experience of this? I don't want to put it in the hold but bring it on board.
Is there room in the bulk head seats for the TWE and the other seats?
Also if anyone has any experience with this airline could you specify what type of aircraft eg boeing 747 as I believe they are the slightly smaller aircraft
Thanks

[muze]

When our son was under two, he had to sit on my lap during take-off (had a Cares harness system at the time in his own seat which fitted well), but when he was just over two Easyjet allowed him to stay in the car seat for the whole flight, including takeoff and landing. I am not sure if the CAA has rules about this, but I believe a car seat with five point harness securely attached to the main seat is much safer for a child during take off etc. than a lap belt, as they apparently become human airbags during crashes! A very bad idea!

[Teenmom]

OH works in Aviation. He tells me that Virgin & Cathay are the only airlines that provide a seat suitable for take-off, landing & turbulence - all other seats including car seats, you have to have child on your lap for these times. Only other way to get one of these seats is to fly on a private jet - I hear Florence Cameron gets one!

[muze]

If anyone wants to know about a seat that works with Easyjet and KLM, I used it on these airlines, it was a TWE (Two way Elite).

The experience was ok, there are + and - points about taking it onboard.

The TWE fits well between the seats on both Easyjet and KLM, there is no width problem as it is quite narrow at the base. The only thing is the seatbelt on Easyjet is only just long enough. You need to push the seat into the back and have it sit upright, then you can just manage to click the seatbelt buckles together. Once that is done, the rest is easy. (You are not allowed to use a seatbelt extender for this, according to crew, so you have to fiddle a bit).
Our son was much more comfortable in it too, as he sits much higher and can reach the table. Second, it is his own seat that he knows well. Much safer too.

What I do is I take the two tetherings straps of the TWE and attach them to the seat through the back holes, then you can carry the TWE on top of a handluggage suitcase with wheels by looping it around the handles. That makes it much easier to walk around the airport.

Lastly, make sure you read the easyjet rules, or better print the bit about car seats and take it with you. The check-in people will sometimes freak out as the seat looks huge. But when you speak to the manager and point out the width is fine, and it is 5 point harness etc. they have always accepted it. The best thing about taking it on the plane is perhaps that you do not have to wrap and unwrap it because you don't have to check it in! That took me 20min sometimes.

[nicm]

Bump...

[nicm]

Hi,I was wondering if anyone has taken their twe on an easyjet flight and if so how did you get on? Thanks

[Piemistress]

Thanks Bertie, will do that now!

[BertieBotts]

You might have more luck PMing, Piemistress :)

[Piemistress]

Muse, just wondering if you were allowed your TWE? It's an old thread I know...

[muze]

We are going to try the Britax TWE Two way elite on the plane, forward facing with a lap belt.
It is 47cm wide at the top but I measured it below and it is less than 42, so will try it on Easyjet and report back here if they allowed it! (This seat we normally use rearward facing, but it can do both).
It does look like a monster seat though because of its extremely tall back shell, so I am afraid they will flip when they see it..

[muze]

Minimarmite, could you please post which Britax seat you used? Thanks!

[MiniMarmite]

Oh and the sling is great, wish I had bought one years ago.

[MiniMarmite]

Hi All

I thought I would report back on my flight experience...

Having the seats (a Britax that normally rear faces but used on the plane in a forward facing position and an old Mamas and Papas seat that only forward faces) on the plane was great. Both children (18 months and 3.5 years) were strapped into their seats for take off and landing. They slept pretty well and were even happy to sit awake for long periods. They are used to sitting in the car seat in the car so I think this really helped that aspect of sitting on a plane.

I don't think we would have been able to get as much rest as we did had we not had the seats with us.

There were downsides though. We had been told at the time of booking that the seats would be taken from us at check in and fitted in position for us. They were not so we had to carry one child (and hold anthers hand), four pieces of hand luggage and two car seats after we had gone through the baggage check (no trolleys). This was obviously almost impossible. We will be giving feedback to the airline about this. We also had an 18 hour delay which didn't help!

[lagoonhaze]

Another seat can be secured with the lapbelt only is a britax eclipse which has a slim base too.

A infant carrier that is approved for airlines is maxi cosi citi

[MiniMarmite]

Good point about sling too MummyPig I have just bought the Calin Bleu to use with my 18 month old who is heavy (14kg) and I just wish I had bought it sooner - he was too round for a baby bjorn from quite early on and our big baby backpack is too cumbersome...this one can just go in a bag or I can wear it as a scarf!

[Booboostoo]

Many thanks everyone for your help! I suspect in the next few years car seats will become standard in airplanes, meanwhile I think I will invest the special harness Inthesleeplessnightgarden suggests (great idea Inthe, thanks!).

[TruthSweet]

Bertie - children have actually had their lives saved by being in car seats in aircraft - and in the US it's encouraged to use a FAA approved seat esp. rfing seats (the air crew ride rfing if you look) as they are statistically safer in a crash (nose is most likely to hit the ground/water than the tail).

The US Babycenter Car Seat Question board has a fair few CPST (Car Passenger Safety Technicians) on the board so it might be worth asking them for advice on the various airlines you plan on flying (not strictly cricket referring off forum but they do have a lot of training/experience in airline procedures).

[Inthesleeplessnightgarden]

I fly long haul frequently with my now toddler. We usually fly virgin who don't allow you to bring your own carseat on board but do provide their own 'carseat' with a five point harness if you buy a seat for the child. It's a pain as it doesn't really recline and it's a faff to install or take out, cue much tutting from crew when I ask them to remove it so DS can just sit on seat and play rather than be strapped in. Virgin do let the child stay in the seat for take off and when the seatbelt signs are on though. I had this //www.kidsflysafe.com Recommended by a friend and think I will invest. I keeps child contained but doesn't take up space on the seat, and means seat can se reclined with it attached.

[BertieBotts]

I think they would want her on your lap during turbulence as well though, unless I'm mistaken.