Originally Posted by
heraclitus
One thing though, how sticky are airlines about onboard use when a device is not FAA approved given that the Ridesafer is not? No one has ever checked my car seat on board UA flights before, but then it looks like a standard car seat so it probably doesn't attract attention... something out of the ordinary might invite closer scrutiny.
In my experience,
US based airlines are very sticky. Our seat has been checked twice and I witnessed a family nearly taken off a plane because they were insisting on using a non-FAA approved seat. (they decided to remove the seat instead of getting off the plane)
You mentioned a Caribbean cruise. We travel in the Caribbean every year and you might find that it wouldn't be possible to use any car seat in a taxi. On some islands, the taxis are open air trucks with benches in the back. Other islands may have vans or cars but I have found that either the seat belts have been removed or they are the lap style only. Also, car seat attitudes are very different. In the UVSIs for example, there is a law but no one seems to follow it and the taxi drivers we encountered act like you are nuts for wanting to restrain your child.
Not a backpack, but we used this seat for a couple of years -
http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-Hyb...103501-4358708
The picture doesn't show it but it folds down into a travel case. We carried it on as a carry-on piece of luggage and put it in the overhead bin. It is not FAA approved.