Car seats in premium economy
Dec 15, 2018, 9:22 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 162
Car seats in premium economy
Trying not to split the family up...car seats in business class are out, economy is terrible, so that leaves premium economy as the hopeful choice.
Age ~15 months.
I'm working to find the rules and whether seats will fit for (front facing) car seats in premium economy. Trip is US > EUR, and if specific airline matters, probably British Airways or Austrian or American.
BA says appropriate seats are fine, but not whether it'll fit. According to their rules, it seems a seat would even go into business, is that correct? Will a seat fit in premium economy (or business)?
Anyone have any knowledge or recommendations, especially if you've done a carseat in premium economy?
Thanks!
Age ~15 months.
I'm working to find the rules and whether seats will fit for (front facing) car seats in premium economy. Trip is US > EUR, and if specific airline matters, probably British Airways or Austrian or American.
BA says appropriate seats are fine, but not whether it'll fit. According to their rules, it seems a seat would even go into business, is that correct? Will a seat fit in premium economy (or business)?
Anyone have any knowledge or recommendations, especially if you've done a carseat in premium economy?
Thanks!
Dec 17, 2018, 11:15 pm
#2
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 69
How many car seats will you be traveling with? Will it only be the one seat for your toddler?
We installed our daughter’s Britax Frontier – which is a big car seat – on BA and American transatlantic flights any generally never had an issue, so you should be able to install your seat(s) without too many, if any, issues. Also, you may have a specific reason to install the seat(s) forward-facing, but if not, at 15 months old, you can always install the seat rear-facing – just another option to try should you find it does not fit forward-facing. When you’re booking (or if you have booked) your flights, I suggest checking out the seat maps on Seatguru:
• British Airways
• American Airlines
• Austrian
You can find out how wide the seats are in each cabin and compare those measurements with the car seat(s) you’ll be taking. Given that premium economy seats are wider than economy, it is very likely the car seats should fit. Unfortunately, we have no idea about lie-flat seats – sorry!
Something we discovered when trying to find out if our daughter’s Frontier would fit was that the “footprint” of the car seat is most important. The base of some car seats is narrower at the back than the front, which means if there is space under the armrests (which may or may not be the case), even if the widest part of the car seat is wider than the aircraft seat, it may still fit. Almost always we traveled with our daughter in her car seat between us and the base of her seat would sometimes slightly overhang each of our seats, but it really didn’t make any difference to us. If you measure the seat(s) you’ll be taking, and then check Seatguru, you should get a pretty good idea about fit.
Also, you won’t be allowed to install a car seat in an aisle seat or an exit row (apologies if you know this already) and you may be told the car seat can only be installed in a window seat. Generally, this shouldn’t be an issue, but it's useful to be aware of when booking. We'd recommend arranging pre-boarding too as it's much easier to install a car seat before everyone else boards the aircraft. Before you leave, you also might want to download to your phone (or print out) the FAA Advisory Circular on using car seats on aircraft. Sometimes, cabin crew are unaware of the rules (and occasionally even the policy of the airline) so if they question anything, it is very useful to have the document to show them. Also, we'd suggest finding the FAA-Approved sticker on the car seat(s) so you know where to look if any of the cabin crew asks to see if the seat is approved for use on an aircraft (which they are very unlikely to ask!).
Lastly, when you install the car seat(s) on the aircraft, it could prove a little trickier than installing them in vehicle due to the aircraft seat belts having the buckle in the middle rather than to one side like a vehicle seat. If needed, you can actually twist the short (non-adjustable) end of the aircraft seat belt around two or three times to make it shorter – that will help pull the buckle over to one side. Our daughter figured that out when she was installing her seat!
We hope this helps!
We installed our daughter’s Britax Frontier – which is a big car seat – on BA and American transatlantic flights any generally never had an issue, so you should be able to install your seat(s) without too many, if any, issues. Also, you may have a specific reason to install the seat(s) forward-facing, but if not, at 15 months old, you can always install the seat rear-facing – just another option to try should you find it does not fit forward-facing. When you’re booking (or if you have booked) your flights, I suggest checking out the seat maps on Seatguru:
• British Airways
• American Airlines
• Austrian
You can find out how wide the seats are in each cabin and compare those measurements with the car seat(s) you’ll be taking. Given that premium economy seats are wider than economy, it is very likely the car seats should fit. Unfortunately, we have no idea about lie-flat seats – sorry!
Something we discovered when trying to find out if our daughter’s Frontier would fit was that the “footprint” of the car seat is most important. The base of some car seats is narrower at the back than the front, which means if there is space under the armrests (which may or may not be the case), even if the widest part of the car seat is wider than the aircraft seat, it may still fit. Almost always we traveled with our daughter in her car seat between us and the base of her seat would sometimes slightly overhang each of our seats, but it really didn’t make any difference to us. If you measure the seat(s) you’ll be taking, and then check Seatguru, you should get a pretty good idea about fit.
Also, you won’t be allowed to install a car seat in an aisle seat or an exit row (apologies if you know this already) and you may be told the car seat can only be installed in a window seat. Generally, this shouldn’t be an issue, but it's useful to be aware of when booking. We'd recommend arranging pre-boarding too as it's much easier to install a car seat before everyone else boards the aircraft. Before you leave, you also might want to download to your phone (or print out) the FAA Advisory Circular on using car seats on aircraft. Sometimes, cabin crew are unaware of the rules (and occasionally even the policy of the airline) so if they question anything, it is very useful to have the document to show them. Also, we'd suggest finding the FAA-Approved sticker on the car seat(s) so you know where to look if any of the cabin crew asks to see if the seat is approved for use on an aircraft (which they are very unlikely to ask!).
Lastly, when you install the car seat(s) on the aircraft, it could prove a little trickier than installing them in vehicle due to the aircraft seat belts having the buckle in the middle rather than to one side like a vehicle seat. If needed, you can actually twist the short (non-adjustable) end of the aircraft seat belt around two or three times to make it shorter – that will help pull the buckle over to one side. Our daughter figured that out when she was installing her seat!
We hope this helps!
Jan 5, 2019, 7:29 am
#3
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: Geneva and on an airlane
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Posts: 117
YOur car seat should fit in all classes of US flights. Some Euro flights have a bassinet and don't allow car seats. But if you are flying into/out of US, I think they have to follow us rules. There is a seat that FAs made (you can find it on their site and others) which works on all and is east to carry. Does not work in cars i don't think Also, if you have an infant (rear facing) some FA have said no to their usage. bring law with you All us plane must allow