Convertible carseat and flying

soon2BTomswife · February 2010

Crazy question, but we are flying to florida next weekend and I am wondering if we put the carseat in the plane seat forward or backward? DD is still rear facing in the car, but does it apply to the plane too?

seethesmiles · February 2010

We use ours rear-facing on the plane.

mistresscox · February 2010

did you buy HER a ticket? if not then she counts as a lap child and you don't take the carseat into the cabin with you.

if you did buy her own seat, then i don't really know. i would think forward facing would be just fine. you could always call and ask the airline.

Bran_ham · February 2010

also make sure your car seat is FAA approved with the sticker saying so.

lkich · February 2010

I can't imagine that it would matter in an airplane. The whole point of rear facing is for a car accident which is WAY different than an airplane accident.

rosesandpeonies · February 2010

I looked into this also. I the carseat company and the AAP say that you follow the same rules as a car. I called the airline, but they weren't very helpful. So Yes if they are rearfacing in a car, they should be on the airplane (if you have their own seat for them) also make sure there is a sticker that says it is approved for aircraft.

carlab44 · February 2010

We've done both. When in the infant seat we would have them rear facing. With the convertible we had them forward facing. We have the Britax Marathon and it is a really tight squeeze rear facing in an airline seat. The person in front of you would not be able to move their seat at all.

rosesandpeonies · February 2010

carlab44:
We've done both. When in the infant seat we would have them rear facing. With the convertible we had them forward facing. We have the Britax Marathon and it is a really tight squeeze rear facing in an airline seat. The person in front of you would not be able to move their seat at all.

This is a big problem. However, the carseat company says there is a reason that they are rearfacing under a certain weight and there is no difference in an airplane...and you should not forward face them. That if you feel your seat can't fit it would actually be better to hold them on your lap then put them in the seat in an inproper way. Take that information how you want. I really researched this pretty long.

carlab44 · February 2010

rosesandpeonies:
carlab44:
We've done both. When in the infant seat we would have them rear facing. With the convertible we had them forward facing. We have the Britax Marathon and it is a really tight squeeze rear facing in an airline seat. The person in front of you would not be able to move their seat at all.
This is a big problem. However, the carseat company says there is a reason that they are rearfacing under a certain weight and there is no difference in an airplane...and you should not forward face them. That if you feel your seat can't fit it would actually be better to hold them on your lap then put them in the seat in an inproper way. Take that information how you want. I really researched this pretty long.

I can understand the stance that it is safer to rear face than forward face, but the dynamics of a plane crash are much different than a car crash and rear facing does not have the same extent of safety advantages on a plane that it does in a car. In fact most injuries come from turbulence and rear facing or forward facing wouldn't make that much of a difference there.

I would definitely argue with the company saying it is safer to have them on your lap than in a forward facing seat on a plane. In the event of a crash or emergency landing the flight attendants actually have you place lap babies on the floor. There are some horrible stories related to this from a crash in Sioux City, Iowa from years ago. And the FAA, NTSB, and AAP all strongly recommend having your child restrained on flights.

I hope this doesn't come across as arguing with you because I'm not. I agree it is best to have them rear facing if possible. We've just been on some planes where it is next to impossible to have the seat in the correct reclined position and rear facing.

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