Car seat on board flight - Ryanair

[RoseTurtle]

Hello

We’ve booked flights to Spain with my daughter who will be 20 months at time of flying. She’s very active and does not give in to sleep easily, and because of this and safety concerns, I think I want to take a car seat on board for her to sit/sleep in during the flight (we’ve booked her own seat on the plane). We’ll need a car seat for the hire car anyway when we get there.

We’re flying with Ryanair, for better or worse. Has anyone flown with Ryanair recently and used a car seat on board (I.e. NOT checked it into the hold)? If so, which car seat did you use?

The rules I’ve found say:
You may bring a car seat on board for an infant or child if it is approved for flying.
Ryanair only permit forward facing car seats.
The seat width does not exceed 17 inches (43 cm), in order to ensure it will fit into the aircraft seat and must be a purpose-designed children's car seat with a 5-point harness and must be of a type approved for use in motor vehicles and aircraft and bearing labels to this effect:
US – “Certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft”.
Europe – European Standard Mark.
In order to ensure the car seat will fit into the aircraft seat please ensure the seat width does not exceed 17 inches (43 cm).

Struggling to find one that meets these criteria though.

Thanks!

In my experience, this is not really a thing in Europe. Much more common in North America, but approved car seats in Europe are hard to find, and almost nobody uses them.

What are the “safety concerns” you have about the flight? She’ll have to be on your laps for take off and landing anyway, and once the seatbelt sign is off, she can move about in her seat as much as she likes.

My “safety concerns” (why the quotes?) are to do with turbulence. Having read recently about people being injured and a man dying due to turbulence, I would much rather have her securely held during the flight, as you would in the car. She’s unlikely to sit still on my lap during takeoff and landing whereas she sits well in her car seat and understands she has to be strapped in.

I appreciate it seems to be more common in the USA but don’t really understand why - there’s not any difference in flights or toddlers between here and the USA.

Anyway, per my OP, I was asking if anyone has done this and if so what seats did they use.

I think the difference is just the car seat regulations meaning that they don’t also fit aeroplane regs.

I don’t know if this is still allowed but I used to take my baby dd on flights a lot and take a car seat for her. It wasn’t approved and I had to have her on my lap for take off and landing but she was allowed into the seat during the flight.

I preferred doing this as putting a car seat into the hold might damage it.

Apparently if the car seat is approved you can keep them in it. As above, this is common in America. As it’s so unknown on Europe I’m not sure if they will even allow it.

I used the quotes as I was literally quoting your own wording. No second meaning there.

I might be wrong, but I believe she’d still need to be on your lap during take off and landing? Even with a car seat. Could not be the case.

If you’re travelling on a Ryanair route, the type of turbulence that could cause injury is extremely, extremely unlikely to happen. Ryanair don’t fly into tropical climates.

USA toddlers aren’t different than European ones, but aviation safety regulations and practices do vary a little bit between continents.

Thanks, it’s a good point you make about the turbulence I suppose, may be less of an issue given the route. I think if it’s approved they can be strapped in for takeoff and landing - hence the specification of a 5-point harness - but will double check with Ryanair if I can find a seat that would work

What model of seat did you use?

Let us know how you get on, and how much extra they charge (no doubt).

Joie Tilt or Graco Extend R44 are 42cm wide, can be fitted with lap belt (it's not an official or crash tested fitting, but it will physically work) and can be forward facing on the plane. I would recommend using rear facing in the car when you get to your destination, as the forward facing protection on these seats is very basic. Graco Extend R129 is 42.7cm wide so may also work.

Unless you can get hold of a second hand Britax Eclipse, or import an American spec car seat, there is nothing which has the crash tested lap belt/plane-specific approval on the market any more which is forward facing, so your only option for Ryanair if you're keen to use a car seat is to do this. In terms of what is safer, I'd make an educated guess that there would be no difference between an Eclipse and Joie Tilt on the plane, but the Tilt/Extend will be better in the car because it can be rear facing.

You could look into CARES harness which attaches to the seatbelt of the child's own seat.

The 5-point-harness requirement is because at various points over the last 20 years there has been (one) high back booster seat with plane approval and a range of impact shield car seats with plane approval and Ryanair do not allow the use of these.

US airline regulations are different, and they do not have the red baby lap belt for when they are on your lap. Their rule is babies under 2 years are not secured at all unless they are in car seats. Also, it is very common to take domestic flights within the US, the US is so large that a domestic flight can be 4-5+ hours, whereas many European flights are about 2 hours or less, and the US is extremely car-centric, all of this is why the two cultures have different norms. American parents have many more options because car seat manufacturers over there know that plane approval is a desirable feature, and it is much more common to use car seats on an aircraft. In Europe it is not commonly done, and you may encounter confusion from cabin staff. But if you want to do it, you can. Thanks to the internet it is becoming more common and it would be interesting if car seat manufacturers did respond to this newer demand.

The CARES harness would be too big for a toddler of this age - we've used it from about 3 and up but my DD who is on the 25th centile was too small at 3 and kept slipping under.

How long is your flight? Babies shouldn’t be in a car seat for extended periods, I think the current guidance is no more than two hours.

Thanks all, I have been considering the CARES harness, good to hear your experience. She is at 99th centile for height, and I think in the weight range for the harness (will double check) so hopefully this would work. The Joie Tilt sounds like a good option too. Really appreciate your help everyone, I’ll look into these two and see which sounds best.

The flight is 2h45, she’s not really a baby any more as would be 20 months at time of flying and will be seated upright so I don’t think this applies, although would be happy to let her out for a couple of short breaks if needed

I thought they absolutely had to be on your lap for take off and landing regardless of approved car seat?

The CARES harness is suitable from 22lbs which is 10kg, so should technically be fine for a 20 month old. I agree it's not very protective, and probably a car seat would offer more protection in any event. But I have seen loads of pictures of toddlers in it and they don't look like they are slipping out of it. We have one somewhere, inherited from a friend, but have never actually used it.

If the car seat or harness is approved by the airline, then they will let you strap the toddler in it for take off and landing. If they deem it not approved, then they can make you put the baby on your lap with the lap belt. I have seen pictures from FB of people using the Joie Tilt on a plane, so it seems some airlines do accept it. If you want to speak to someone who has done it, I would join one of the UK-based car seat groups and ask there.

Did you ever find one? I am having the same issues

No, I gave up in the end and just held her on my lap for landing and take off. It was fine, I was probably overthinking it.

@RoseTurtle good to know I’m having the same issue and getting myself worked up but I think that’s just being a mum isn’t it

Definitely! Especially first time! Good luck finding a solution that works for you 👍