KebaNYC

I am aware that a car seat has to be at the window to allow easy evacuation in case of emergency but what is the rule if you are in the middle section of a wide body aircraft? Can you put the car seat in the middle? I usually fly CO so it would be a 777 or 767.

Thanks!

Keba

FWAAA

Dunno about CO, but AA permits car seats in the middle section of F and J on widebodies - and in any non-aisle middle section coach seat on widebodies:

I'd definitely call CO beforehand - so you know the correct answer in case an FA objects. When my kids were in their car seats, I had success in very politely convincing AA SkyDragons to check their manual when I knew I was right and they were incorrect about where the car seats were permitted.

22wingit

Yes, it is usually allowed. Most of the manuals word the restriction to say that the carseat must not impede egress, so as long as the seat position is the farthest out from the designated exit for that row in either direction, you can usually put a carset there.

Expect an FA to pop beside you and confirm your identity as soon as you begin to install it. For some reason, on long-haul flights they seem to be much more surprised to see carseats than on short flights, and they always want to challenge Jr's right to sit in his own seat. Challenges are especially likely if you install a rearfacing infant seat on an overnight flight, because they would rather not deal with "I can't recline" complaints from the person in the next seat forward.

jonesing

Amen to that! My wife and son (10 months) just completed a trip to see her grandmother. She said a FA all but tackled her when she was wheeling the Britax to their seats...the FA was surprised that we actually paid for a ticket for the baby since the flight was so short. Anyway, the problems actually began at the boarding podium because the GA didn't scan the baby's boarding pass. So, of course, their pax count was off and they gave his seat away to a standby pax. So when the pax got to their row, he called over the FA because the baby was "in her seat". My wife produced both the boarding pass and a copy of their paid itinerary at which point the FA had to boot the standby pax off the plane. Oh yeah, the FA double checked to see there was a sticker saying the seat was FAA approved. Not sure if that was an effort to try and deny the use of the car seat and thus turning him into a lap baby which would free up that seat or what.