Donutdude88

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are here in Peru but plan on traveling to the U.S. here in the next couple of weeks. Our son recently turned two so we are in the process of looking for a car-seat which would be suitable for him. We've gone to several stores, and have come across several promising looking car-seats. However, none of them appear to have the tell-tale sticker which states that it is FAA approved. Most of them say they are 'Universal' car-seats which are approved by the ECE, but nowhere can we seem to find one that has that specific sticker.

We plan on using the airline, JetBlue if that makes any difference. My question then is, does anyone have any idea how to find a FAA approved car-seat here in Peru? Thank you.

It'sHip2B^2

Can you order from any websites?

car seats are FAA approved. even they are crash tested they are out through one additional test. In the US, the car seat says "This car seat is certified for use in aircraft." or another variation of that. Have a look at the FAA's website. I believe that you can use a car seat certified by your home country for aircraft use.

Donutdude88

Thank you for your reply. I'm not sure if we can order a car-seat as the postal system here in Peru is fairly useless and unreliable. I've looked for that sticker you mentioned, but so far no luck finding one.

I called JetBlue and they say that a car-seat is not necessary. However, we'd still like to buy one just in case. Does anyone know of any other way to purchase one which is approved by the FAA from outside the country?

vicarious_MR'er

Honestly chances are slim to none that anyone would ask to see the sticker (although the chance DOES exist). If you could get a basic seat that is approved by the local peruvian air agency (or regional one/however it works in that neck of the woods) and, if confronted, explain this to them, it would probably work just fine.

Your odds of not even being asked are ~99%

Big4Flyer

We've taken our car seat on around a dozen domestic flights in the past year and haven't had anyone ever ask to see the sticker. We're often reminded to put it in the window seat, but haven't had an FA say anything otherwise. These were all domestic flights, but I would anticipate that it would probably be the same for international as well, particularly if its a US based crew.

Tizzette

Possibly you can look up the brand online, the model that looks like yours, and print out the specifications or advertising that says FAA approved, instead of having the sticker on the seat.

Donutdude88

Alright! Thank you all for your responses. I think we'll just go ahead and buy a good-looking seat that's equal in all facets to one of an American brand. Hopefully we don't get questioned about the sticker, but if we do then we'll just explain the situation and roll with it.

Eclipsepearl

The FAA allows car seats that are approved for flying by other air authorities. You don't need to specifically buy a U.S. car seat.

http://kidsflysafe.com/wp-content/up...09-17-2010.pdf

Donutdude88

Interesting! When I called JetBlue they said that it must be specifically FAA approved.

Tizzette

I found that the same models of car seats and strollers as our US brands are sold in Europe and presumably South America but called by different names, I assume for marketing reasons. For flights originating outside the US, it doesn't make sense to expect a US FAA sticker. But it should be possible to buy the local equivalent to a US model that is FAA approved and print the specs out from online.

Tizzette

The link is very useful with example photos of approved car seats, which seems to focus on having an internal harness and a hard shell.

Eclipsepearl

JetBlue flies mostly domestic flights so of course they say "FAA approved seats" since that applies to most people. They don't go into the nitty-gritty on approved seats just because it would be wordy, confusing and won't apply to 99.99% of their customers.

Also, there are exceptions for special needs children. Again, you won't find that information on their website for similar reasons.

But the problem for those of us parents outside the U.S. isn't the seats approval but even finding a seat that is has any air qualification label. A lot of the car seats sold have to be installed with a three-point seat belt, which of course, airplanes don't have.

So even finding a seat that can be installed with a lap belt is already a victory!

B1

We use a Transport Canada approved seat on US airlines with no problems. If you live in Canada they expect the car seat to have Transport Canada approval but allow others to use whatever approval their home country allows.

DZ450

We had the same issue when we were flying last year, we didnt know which car seat to get because the two we had didnt have a single thing written on them about FAA guidelines. I did a lot of research online and found that most car seats are approved. I got the manual out to the car seat we were going to take with us and read carefully through it and found where it talks about using it on a plane.
This is the car seat we used, if you click on the product support page, there is a manual download. On page 44 & 45 it takes about securing the seat on FAA aircraft.
http://evenflo.com/Products/Evenflo/...ibute_LX/#Ella

Also you can type into Amazon search - FAA car seat and a bunch will come up.

Hope this helps.