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

[GeorgiaPeach]

I posted this message yesterday but it ended up in 'allergies' somehow, so I'm posting again. We're flying to Australia in FOUR days and need a forward-facing child car seat (9-18kg) with a lap-belt routing for the flight. The Singapore Airlines seats are 17" wide at the base and 7"-8" high from seat base to arm rest. The problem seems to be getting a car seat that's narrow enough to clear the arm rest before its arms splay out beyond 7"-8". We're desperate because our 15-month-old can only fall asleep in a car seat and he's a total wriggler. Any help greatly appreciated.

the britax eclipse fits with lap belt only. not sure on the measurements though. I take is its a lap belt only car seat you are after?

can't offer a car seat i'm afraid but you can only use a car seat if you have paid the child fare....if you have paid the infant fare you don't get a seat ....you probably know that, but just in case....

Thanks for the replies. Yes, we do need a lap belt only car seat and yesterday bought the Britax Freeway which seems a little smaller (and cheaper) than the Eclipse. Hopefully, if the Eclipse fits, the Freeway should too. Fingers crossed ...

Make sure you tell them in at check in that you want to use the car seat and ask for a window seat - we did this a couple of months ago and were given middle seats and were unable to use the car seat there - apparently so they are not a safety risk the car seat needs to be in a window seat. We were fortunate that the plane was almost empty and so were able to use another row.

We have a britax eclipse and it fitted perfectly. It was great for dd on take off and landing and on the singapore to aus leg I just reclined the car seat and she slept all the way.

I flew Singapore Airlines in April and took two Maxi Cosi car seats on board. No problems at all. Both went in middle seats of four. Previously I'd got all sorts of confusing messages from booking agents etc saying only MOthercare seats acceptable etc but basically turned up at airport with car seat and didn't show it to them and they didn't ask to see it - even though I mentioned it to them. On another matter, be warned - we got to check in 3 hours before flight and having requested four middle seats they were planning on seating our 8 month old on her own across the aisle. I had to kick up a fuss to get this changed, which they did. Also re car seats -depending on type of aircraft, Qantas/BA seem to have a limit on the number they can have in a cabin - we were only allowed one even though there were dozens of empty seats and no other car seats on board. Our one had to be stowed for the first part of our trip and then from Sydney we were allowed it again (even though the same plane!). Bizarre. Car seats saved my sanity on the flight - have a great and relaxing trip.

Thanks for your experiences - they're a great help and I feel reassured.

maggie I think it was cause we also were given a skycot and so had the middle row in the bulkhead area - technically that little bit of extra leg room counts as an emergency walkway and so dd would have been in the way with her legs etc hanging out.