Carseat on airplane

We are flying with our daughter later in the week, nothing new there.. this will be the lucky 2 year olds 3rd WDW trip. This will however be her first trip with her own seat. We are renting a car and plan on taking our own car seat with us, my question is how much of a pain is it to get the carseat (which is FAA Approved) onto the plane?.. There isn't much room between rows and we are traveling with 4 of us, 3 in 1 row 1 across the isle. Probably have to put the car seat next to the window, but I'm worried about how well we can actually get it in there, based on the limited room. She will defiantly travel better in her car seat rather than just in the seat. Any experiences?

Not having done this personally, I can't offer anything in the way of personal experience. I can say that I have seen parents do this and it did not appear they were having an undue amount of difficulty (unless the child didn't want to sit it in)!

We took our carseat on the plane last year. It was not a problem at all. However, we checked my older daughters booster seat with our luggage and that was just much easier. When we go back in May, I am going to check both seats. We use the seats to drive to JFK, then we place them in thick black garbage bags and wrap some duct tape around them. We check them with our luggage and then when we arrive, we pull the tape off and put the seats in the rental car. I know it is safer to have the seat on the plane, but I cannot be bothered carrying it this year. Whatever you decide...have fun.

I've done it many times (although it was years ago).

Most of the time it was not a problem at all. My only problems were with flight attendants who did not know (at that time) what was FAA approved or not.

You will have plenty of room and your daughter will actually be much more comfortable in her own secure and familiar seat than in the airplane seat itself. Our kids always slept fairly well on the plane, because they also slept pretty well on long-ish car trips.

I've even done it with 2 kids, a stroller, diaper bag, purse, a car seat and only ME to get it all together. (people on the plane were no help at all :( ) It can be done.

Don't worry about it- it will be fine. I think it's the best way for kids to travel.

Yes, do take the seat on board. Our experience is also some time ago and we agree about the lack of knowledge among airline staff then as to what was approved. It might be worth taking the instructions or a print out from the manufactures web site confirming the FAA approval of the seat.
Be sure you attach the seat properly and tightly using the aircrafts lap strap. The most important reason for taking the seat is that it will provide the best protection “in the unlikely event…...” but it will also stop her going [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img] throughout the flight ;)

Have a great trip!!!!!

[ March 16, 2003, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: chrisnjilly ]

We just traveled 8 weeks ago with our DD who was 22 months. Yes, you will have to put the seat next to the window. I bought one of those foldable carts with a bungie cord and wheels so that we could wheel the carseat around the airport rather than trying to carry a diaper bag, carseat and a toddler. I could also strap the diaper bag to the cart too. Worked out nice. I did have to remove the carseat from the cart before boarding the plane because the seat was too wide. My DH picked up the seat and carried it on board. Flight attendants didn't even enquire about our seat being FAA approved. DD slept the entire trip out west and same for the return trip. Good luck and have fun. TTFN [img]smile.gif[/img]

The only problem we had with using our car seat was with the airplane seat belt. There was no way to adjust it so that the buckle was not right in our child's back. He didn't seem to mind, but it looked uncomforable to me. The car seat cover provided some padding, but an extra blanket might have been helpful for extra padding.

We did not use a cart, as btuskan suggested, but it certainly would have been helpful -- especially on the return trip, when the kids were tired and/or sleeping.

Use the car seat! My 3yr old dd is used to sitting in it and when we traveled for Thanksgiving she didn't see any difference between sitting on the plane and sitting in the car. Otherwise she would have been [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img] ALL OVER the place! It would have driven me and everyone else NUTS! I did the same thing with 7yr old dd when she was younger. The BEST advantage is that they can reach the tray table better--I took playdough, books and crayons and snacks. They were able to enjoy them on the tray and still stay secure "just in case".

I don't need a car seat for the car travel portion for this trip (shuttle van will provide) but I think I will bring it anyway just so she will stay seated and not climb on everyone and run up and down the aisle. I get a little [img]graemlins/sick.gif[/img] on the plane (even with major Dramamine II) so I need her to stay in one place or I might [img]graemlins/ack.gif[/img] !

The only time I had a problem with my car seat being "regulation" was when I had DD7's booster several years ago, that still had the 5pt. harness on it. It is approved for aircraft use that way but not without the harness. It was clearly stated on the safety tag on the car seat (all seats should have) so I just had to find the right place and show the gate attendant.

You will have to place the car seat next to the window (FAA regulations)--make sure you let them know about the car seat when getting seat assignments. You can not sit in an exit row, and in some planes there are other rows you can not sit in. You will (most likely) have to hold the car seat above the airline seats to get down the aisle. Try to board early to install the seat (it will take a few minutes, depending on how easy your car seat is to install), or even have another adult board early and take care of installing it and then board with the child later, so they are not stuck in the seat waiting while everyone else boards.

We travelled with my DD's car seat on three separate trips -- it was a pain to carry around the airport for sure (although there should be a place on the side to grab it) but I am so glad we took it -- she travelled much better on the plane with it because she was used to sitting in it -- this way she stayed put! It does fit best next to the window and it does take a little "work" to get it in there mainly because you have to reach over to put it in instead of being in front of it -- it is also nice to have when you rent the car -- I would highly recommend it -- also, if you were to hit some turbulence on the plane she is safe and secure -- Good Luck! ;)

We flew a number of times with DD when she was younger. We always used the car seat in the plane and took advantage of the early boarding offered to "families with small children." Often the flight attendant would even help with the seat. There is so much to be said for her familiarity with the seat and the peace of mind when we would encounter turbulence.

That said, she is now 4 yrs old and 37 lbs. and she used the airport seat belt on our last trip. We checked a car seat to use on our rental and, considering what we saw was provided by the rental agency, we were glad we did. We have a special bag sized for the car seat with carrying straps that made things a lot easier in the airport.