Flight-approved car seats

[HelenBusyBee]

Hi everyone,

I need to fly a few times this year on my own with my now nearly-11-month-old DS. He's on the large side so I think it will be easier for all involved to reserve him a seat (as most airlines allow - at a cost, of course, boo).

We need to move up a car-seat group anyway, so I'd like to get one that is accepted on flights too. Looking at the guidelines on Ryanair, it must either:

• have a CE sticker and "Certified for use on aircraft" printed on it, OR
• have an FAA sticker and "Certified for use on aircraft” printed on it.

I'm looking for a list of such car seats somewhere and am having no luck. The only seats I've found so far at the Maxi-Cosi Pebble and Citi. Does anyone happen to know of anywhere with approved car seats for planes, please?

Thanks very much!
Helen :D

I don't know of a list but the Britax Eclipse claims to be approved for aircraft use.

I took my Britax Eclipse on an Easy jet flight as it was one of the narrowest. Fitted fine with the lap belt.

Hi all. I'm flying with Ryanair with our newborn son soon. He'll be nearly 5 months at the time. We've bought an extra infant seat for him (first flight... every little helps). The thing is I can't find out which car seat they will actually accept on the plane. Apparently our car seat (Maxi Cosi Cabriofix) is not FAA approved... despite the fact that almost identical Maxi Cosi Pebble seat is!

Even then I'm not sure I'll be able to take it because the Ryanair website says:

You can bring a car seat onboard for use by an infant or child as long as it is approved for aircraft use and has a 5 point harness. The car seat must:
· Be forward facing
· Fit in the 42.5 cm (16.8 inches) space between the armrests of an aircraft seat.
· Be certified for use onboard aircraft as follows:
European car seat– the seat must have a CE sticker and
"Certified for use on aircraft" printed on it.
U.S.car seat– the seat must have a FAA sticker and
"Certified for use on aircraft” printed on it.


My understanding is that 0-12 months car seats are generally rear facing... at least all the FAA approved ones are. So I'm not sure if it's possible to find a car seat that fits in all these criteria!

I called Ryanair's expensive call centre and they were absolutely useless, quoting the website and without any clue as to what to say about particular makes and models.

Has anyone flown on a Ryanair flight with a newborn in a car seat? Were they difficult about it? Maybe they just don't care and I'm worrying too much. What car seat make were you allowed / not allowed on-board?

Thanks for your help