heraclitus

When flying outside of Canada, I typically take UA, and I will continue to do so with my almost 2-month old who has not yet left town. However, my baby's car seat is Canadian, with all the Canadian approvals, etc. Is this going to be an issue when travelling abroad? Will United flight crews care if my car seat is approved only by Transport Canada and not the FAA?

The reason I ask is because of the other thread regarding seat belt extenders and mention of the FA's asking if the car seat is approved. If so I will simply procure myself an American car seat, but that really seems like overkill to me given that a plane (particularly flying over an ocean) will have a lot of non-American people, some with babies... surely it isn't expected that we will all have American car seats for babies?!?

Anna Phor

Is it possible that the seat is in fact FAA approved but labeled differently on the American & Canadian markets? In other words, if it's a seat that's sold in both the US and Canada, it may well be an FAA approved seat even if the Canadian labeling doesn't say that it is.

heraclitus

I have no idea, but maybe I'll check the manual just to be sure. My seat is a Graco, but I do seem to recall friends telling us to make sure we bought our seat in Canada because there would be a world of grief if we bought a seat on a weekend shopping trip to North Dakota.

CBear

Yes, your seat will be fine. Just make sure it still has all of the applicable stickers on the seat itself and you still have the manual.

And yes, US car seats do get confiscated by Customs (but only if you are a Canadian resident). Reason being that US seats do not conform to Canadian regulations and testing requirements. Canada has a very different rebound requirement than the US, so even though you have the same model seat that is sold in the US, there is some subtle differences that does not make it Canada compliant.

Eclipsepearl

Relax. The FAA allows foreign-approved car seats, for air travel.

Here's the doc. Page 5, print it up and take it with you, with your Canadian-approved seat.

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/m...%20120-87B.pdf

Canada tends to be stricter with baby equipment in general. In theory, anything approved above the border should be kosher below it too.

heraclitus

Thank you once again, Eclipsepearl! I always appreciate your thoughtful answers!

B1

Have you ever heard of a car seat from the US being confiscated? I suppose if you had several in boxes but how could they do it if there was a child in it? US car seats are of course used by people from the US who visit Canada so they cannot be illegal for use. We have been over the border with car seats many times and no inspection ever has occurred. On the other hand, car seats sold at retail in Canada must be approved for use in Canada. And those who do installations for pay indicate that they insist on the car seat being approved for use in Canada (probably for liability insurance qualification). We found that Dorel, which is Canadian, uses different brand names on identical car seats in the two countries, probably to making the distinction clearer. Finally, check if the car seat has an expiration date. If it was actually inspected, someone might be looking. The rationale for expiration dates on car seats is a matter of issues not related to the spoilage of plastic.

CBear

Yes I have.

I'm talking about Canadian residents buying US seats for use in Canada.

Dorel seats in the US is not the same as Dorel seats in Canada. They do have structural differences. Graco seats sold in the US is not the same as Graco seats sold in Canada.

The US and Canada have two different sets of testing requirements.

Eclipsepearl

If anyone is curious about this, I recommend going over to Carseat.org and visiting their "Canadian and other international issues" board (perhaps that wasn't entirely correct but you won't mistake it for another board). I haven't been in awhile so scroll down and see if this subject has been tackled recently.

BTW, you don't have to register to post over there but please glance at the other subjects, just to be sure no one gets annoyed if they have discussed this.

CD_YOW

The following is a consumer information notice from Transport Canada intended for Canadian residents regarding the use of car seats in motor vehicles:

Child Car Seat Cross Border Shopping – What Parents and Caregivers Should Know