Car Seats and airlines (Germany Trip)

Kittycat196

I booked a flight on Lufthansa airline and have to use 2 carseats for my two year olds. How do I know if my car seats will be ok to use on the flight? The airline lists some but of course mine isnt on the list. It also says the seats have to be labeled with "FAA or CAA".  I dont know if mine have that. I will have to look but I dont recall seeing that on it.

My questions is do the airlines check for this? Not sure what to do here. I wouldnt want to have to buy new carseats for this one trip.

Thanks for any help!

seethesmiles

We've had the stewards check on almost every flight we've been on -- domestic and international. Most likely, your car seats are FAA-approved. The little sticker should be right on the car seat. It was difficult to find on one of our seats so you may have to look hard. If, for some reason your seats are not FAA-approved, you can usually get the Cosco Scenera for cheap. We got this brand specifically for travel because it's so light-weight and we found it for $35 on overstock.com.

frlcb

Yes they usually check, I have found more so international carriers. What kind of seats are they?

 

Fwiw I would check the car seats and get CARES. Car seats at that age put them at the right height to kick the seats in front of them. We stopped flying with them for ds at 20 months or so for that reason 

Kittycat196

It's an overnight trip so I think they will sleep better in their carseats. We have Safety 1st Air.

frlcb

Kittycat196:

It's an overnight trip so I think they will sleep better in their carseats. We have Safety 1st Air.

There should be a sticker on the seat that says FAA approved.

You would be surprised, my ds sleeps fine in the CARES, we do overnight flights to Europe a couple times a year. 

seethesmiles

Have you flown with car seats before? I was just thinking -- car seats can only go in the window seats so your daughters will have to fly in different rows. Are you okay with this? If not, you have no choice but to use the CARES harness for at least one of them.

Knitty

Yes, they do check, and I have been denied the use of mine even though it is FAA approved. Best to check in advance with the actual airline and take the approval in writing.

stever

seethesmiles:

Have you flown with car seats before? I was just thinking -- car seats can only go in the window seats so your daughters will have to fly in different rows. Are you okay with this? If not, you have no choice but to use the CARES harness for at least one of them.

That's not remotely true. Both times we've flown with DS we were seated in the center row.

seethesmiles

stever:

seethesmiles:

Have you flown with car seats before? I was just thinking -- car seats can only go in the window seats so your daughters will have to fly in different rows. Are you okay with this? If not, you have no choice but to use the CARES harness for at least one of them.

That's not remotely true. Both times we've flown with DS we were seated in the center row.

Wow. Every time we've flown, we've been told that the car seat must go in the window seat so as not to block other passengers in the row should there be an emergency. Maybe it's just a policy of some airlines.

frlcb

stever:

seethesmiles:

Have you flown with car seats before? I was just thinking -- car seats can only go in the window seats so your daughters will have to fly in different rows. Are you okay with this? If not, you have no choice but to use the CARES harness for at least one of them.

That's not remotely true. Both times we've flown with DS we were seated in the center row.

On a flight with just 2 sets of seats in each row (either 2 and 3 or 3 and 3) they do want you to put the car seats in the window seat so people can get out easily in case of emergency. I would imagine that if there is the 3rd set of seats (in the middle) the car seat is fine being in the middle of those seats, not the aisle, so people can still get out. 

madhatter2003

Ditto not using the seats. We fly to England all the time and they sleep better without the car seats, and no kicking the seat in front. Plus they can use the tray tables better to color, eat, etc.

Last time we flew we had DH in the aisle, me in the aisle across from him, and the kids next to me by the window (it was a 3x4x3 plane, so I was in the 3 and DH in the 4).  The kids just laid down across the seats by me and slept, and it was nice having both adults have aisle access.

stever

frlcb:

stever:

seethesmiles:

Have you flown with car seats before? I was just thinking -- car seats can only go in the window seats so your daughters will have to fly in different rows. Are you okay with this? If not, you have no choice but to use the CARES harness for at least one of them.

That's not remotely true. Both times we've flown with DS we were seated in the center row.

On a flight with just 2 sets of seats in each row (either 2 and 3 or 3 and 3) they do want you to put the car seats in the window seat so people can get out easily in case of emergency. I would imagine that if there is the 3rd set of seats (in the middle) the car seat is fine being in the middle of those seats, not the aisle, so people can still get out. 

That makes sense. We were on a Virgin flight so there were 3 rows. I'd imagine there would be 3 rows on trans-Atlantic Lufthansa flight too though. Wouldn't there?

stever

And Seehthesmiles, I really, really didn't mean for my PP to sound bitchy. Sorry.