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Original poster

Lightweight car seat for a flight any ideas please?

8 replies

dippy · 13/07/2004 00:39

Can anyone recommend a lightweight car seat to take on a flight that has its own harness and will be fitted securely with a plane lap belt?

Any ideas gratefully received - 4 hour xmas flight to Canaries.

OP posts:

kalex · 13/07/2004 00:42

Took the kids without one, why do you want to take one. DS sat on my lap with lap belt and most car hire co. will hire you ine

Original poster

dippy · 13/07/2004 00:57

no lap belts on our flight and both kids have got seats - doting granny bought them to give them room - hence my headache!

OP posts:

LIZS · 13/07/2004 10:42

How old are the kids ? You might find if they are under 2 they have to still sit on your lap for take off and landing. It would be most irregular for airlines to take "infants", allocated seat or no seat, without a lap belt extension for them . Many car seats are too wide for airline seats so perhaps worth checking with the airline as to what may fit and their policy.

sjs · 13/07/2004 15:52

Sorry - no advice on the lightweight car seat, but just wanted to say that if you buy one it's important it has the sticker on it saying that it is approved for aircraft use. Most of the airlines check before you use it. We've used a carseat for our dd on flights since she stopped fitting in the basinet - mostly because we fly a lot of long haul and she sleeps well. She stays in the seat for take off and landing. It's a bit tricky to get the car seat fitted - takes a bit of practice. If you decide against the car seat, even if they have their own seats for the flight, if they are under 2, you could have them on your lap for take off and landing. We just use regular Britax seat - very heavy and pain to carry onto plane but other than that it's great.

august24 · 13/07/2004 16:47

I brought my USA car seat on a BA flight when my daughter was 18 months old and the cabin crew actually took the seat away from me once I was on the flight as it was not certified by the UK government(who ever certifies it) So do be careful about which one you bring. Since then I have never carried a seat on the plane, and we fly to the states(or elsewhere every 3-4 months)and have never felt oh I wish I had my carseat! there are pros to bringing carseats, my friend does as her daughter is used to sleeping in hers in the car, so she sleeps on the plane.

Chandra · 13/07/2004 16:56

The key is how old are the children and how many they are, 4 hrs is not really that long (one hour more than going to Southern Spain). The only times I have seen car seats onboard are for tiny babies, and normally if you reseve a basinette on time you wont even need that.

muddaofsuburbia · 13/07/2004 17:00

Loads of great flight advice on this site:

Babygoes2

I know I've seen a harness of some kind designed so that babies are strapped on their parents lap, but I can't remember which catalogue I saw it in.

prettycandles · 13/07/2004 17:02

BA and several other airlines use Britax, so will accept any of the Britax stage 1-2 seats which are suitable for lap-belt fixing (eg Eclipse).

How old are the children? You may find it better to give them a chance to move around - then they can work off their fidgets and you may have a more peaceful flight than if they are strapped in for 4h.

Most important - get bulkhead seats!

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