KatieM0602

Hello, my family and I will be traveling from PHX to EUG in May. Our 6yo daughter has special needs and we do not fly much. This will be our first air travel with her and our 18mo son. We are flying AA (American Eagle) on a CR7 and have purchased a seat for all of 4 of us. Has anyone successfully installed a Boulevard on this aircraft (likely FF)? We also have a Diono Rainier, but prefer the Britax for ease installation in the rental car.

We will be boarding the airplane first since our daughter will need a wheelchair to board and extra time to get on the plane. Right now we are in rows 14 and 15. AA would not give us one of the bulkhead rows (preferred for our daughter). That would have been ideal so she would have more legroom in the bulkhead and our son could sit behind her and I wouldn’t worry about him kicking the seat. Fingers crossed we have a nice gate agent who can give it to us!

TIA!

MoreMilesPlease

Did AA give a reason for denying a bulkhead? Maybe is you talk to Special Services they could intervene and get a bulkhead seat for you.

KatieM0602

I called twice and asked for Special Services to intervene and was told they wouldn’t unless one of us had a prosthetic limb or service animal. Sigh...

sportsguy1

While we’ve never traveled on the CRJ-700, we hope the following might be helpful to you.

First, how wide is the Britax Boulevard at its widest point? And how wide is the base (footprint) of the seat?

Generally, whether the seat will fit depends on these two measurements and, occasionally, also whether the armrests can be folded upwards and out of the way if needed.

According to seatguru the AA CRJ-700 has four different layouts (version 1, version 2, version 3, and version 4) with the smallest seat width being 17.17 inches (others are 17.25 and 17.3 inches). If there is a gap between the armrests and the seat cushion, then there is a very good chance the Boulevard will fit at the base because even if it is wider than the 17.17 inches, the footprint can slightly overhang the edges of the aircraft seat cushion. The only question then is whether the seat is narrow enough to pass the armrest. If it is, then the seat will very liekly fit ok, but if not – and if the armrest is moveable – then you could potentially fold the armrest upwards and the seat should then fit.

We don’t know how much of an indication it is, but we flew with our (small for her age!) daughter in a Britax Frontier until she was 13.5 years old and we never had any trouble installing it on aircraft seats (she would install it herself on the last few flights she was in it). From what we understand the Frontier is pretty much the largest seat available, and while we mainly flew with her in it on larger aircraft, we made a few flights on smaller aircraft and never had an issue with it fitting.

The only issue you might find is not necessarily fitting the car seat into the aircraft seat, but installing it with aircraft seat belts which have the buckle located in the middle, rather than to one side like a car. For example, the path of the seat belt through the seat might not be designed to accept centrally located buckles and therefore when fastened under the padding/cover of the seat, it might stick out slightly and press into her which she could find uncomfortable. One trick is to put two smartphones on top of each other and put them behind the covers to simulate the buckle – you’ll be able to see if it will stick out (two smartphones stacked together roughly equal the thickness of an airline seat buckle).

If you find this is an issue, there is a trick to get around it. Just twist/rotate the non-adjustable part of the seat belt. This makes it shorter and thus moves the buckle over to one side of the seat, often enough that it sits far enough off to the side that it won't be bothersome. It will of course depend on the aircraft seat and seat belt, but we were never not able to do this it’s easy to do (our daughter often did it herself).

We hope this is helpful!

KatieM0602

Your response has been more than helpful. Thank you so much!! The Boulevard is 18.5" wide, so I suspect we will have to lift the armrest. I also had heard about the buckle sometimes being uncomfortable for children once installed in an aircraft, so your suggestions are very much appreciated. I am impressed you traveled with the Frontier for that long! My daughter has the Frontier as well, but I don't want to haul that and the Boulevard through the airport...along with the kids and luggage and stroller, etc. etc.. Instead, we have are packing the high-back of her booster in our suitcase and carrying the seat part on board with us.

Regarding the armrests, are they all moveable on the CRJ-700 with the exception of the bulkhead? The few times I have flown with our daughter, it has been on larger Boeing aircraft, never a smaller, regional operator (American Eagle through AA).

MoreMilesPlease

But did you actually get to speak to Special Services?

Maybe Tweet? That seems to get responses better sometime. Or even call CNN...LOL...you never know. If it's a slow news day they may be happy to shame AA for not helping a special needs child.