Originally Posted by
GW McLintock
I was led to believe it was an FAA thing, but clearly that is not the case.
Regardless, it's a JetBlue thing. Flight attendants are instructed this during training and it's in their flight attendant manual, which do have to be regularly updated and approved by the FAA. So take that however you want, but for JetBlue to be able to operate under FAA jurisdiction, they (JetBlue in this case, and more specifically the FAA wants JetBlue to) want harnesses in the window seat. At JetBlue this will include any type of device such as a harness, car seat, or even a portable oxygen concentrator. Again this is all in their flight attendant manual (which again is an FAA-approved document), though I'm not about to cite the chapter and section on a public forum.
-J.
Yes, I get that now (and the FA even showed me the manual inflight, which I appreciated). And I know that when airlines put it in their manual they are obligated to follow it even if the FAA doesn't specifically mandate it*. I just checked a few other airlines to see how they handle it:
DL and AA - window "preferred' for car seats
F6 - window "suggested" for car seats
WN - window or middle for car seats
UA - window for car seats (CARES harness in separate section with no specification - unclear which rules apply to it).
NK - nothing about location for anything (other than not in exit row)
My main point is that B6 has a stricter requirement than all other airlines wrt the CARES harness being in only a window seat. They should be clearer about it on their website if they have stricter rules. They have the same language from the manual about CRS only being in the window, but don't have the definition of a CRS available publicly (whereas it is clearly defined in their FA manual), and the only publicly available definition of CRS is the FAA's "hard-backed seat".
*As an aside, it drives me nuts when they then claim that "the FAA requires", for instance "the FAA limits you to one carry on and one personal item". The airline chose to put that in their manual, which the FAA approved, and then you're obligated to follow it. Don't pass it off to the FAA when it was an airline decision.