joshwex90

Thanks! I figure we wouldn't take the base to make life easier, and would take the stroller adapter. What concerns me is that I've heard that Air France gate-checks your stroller to the final destination and not until the end of the flight, so navigating CDG would be holding the carseat without a stroller. The A320 is AF and the 757 is DL

PIT_Flyer

We'll be flying with our almost 2 year old next month (she'll turn 2 during the trip). Since we'll be in business class (lie flat), is it worthwhile taking a car seat? My daughter has flown quite a bit, but never on long, overnight flights (we have two, back-to-back 10 hour flights in each direction), so we really don't know what to expect. My #1 concern is safety, so I'd like for her to be strapped in at all times and a car seat is far safer than the airplane lap belt, but it's a pain to schlep one in FRA.

Also, if for some reason my daughter decides that she wants nothing to do with the car seat after takeoff, how helpful are FAs in storing it away during the flight? Is that even an option?

Finally, we have a Graco My Ride 65 LX Convertible Car Seat. If the recommendation/consensus is to take the car seat, does this particular one pass muster with airlines? We're flying UA, LH and AC.

Thanks in advance!
PIT_Flyer

BeatCal

As a pediatric trauma surgeon I see several children a year who go flying when an plane hits an air pocket. Several broken bones and concussions.
Why the flight attendant and pediatric associations want kids to be in car seats.

The flight attendants sell one that is easy to carry and works well.

GUWonder

I've never seen flight attendants on my flights sell a car seat on my flight for delivery on flight. Which airlines have flight attendants selling such car seats on their flights? Of the several million miles I've flown on American, Delta and United, I can't remember seeing this.

I have seen adults and children on flights get injured on planes. But it's not like most of them were seriously injured; nor is it like the serious injuries mostly took place while passengers were all seated -- car seat or otherwise.

PIT_Flyer

Yeah, I haven't seen any flight attendant sell car seats or restraints either. Unless, @BeatCal, you're referring to contraptions to schlep car seats around the airport. I haven't seen FAs sell them, but links earlier on in this thread seem to suggest that these are available online.

BeatCal

Sorry, i was not specific enough.
The CARES (kidsflysafe.com) was developed by flight attendants and is sold in the FA stores at airports (in Chicago in the hotel) and used to be endorsed by them. It is an easy to pack child safety harness.

As to injuries: broken bones and concussions are serious enough - esp if it is your baby. Note you can't hold a purse on your lap, but you can a child. By physics, if the plane hits an airpocket- it is impossible to hold the child.

lg10

It didn't sound like the questioner was comparing a carseat to an unrestrained lap toddler; it sounded like the toddler would have been seat-belted into her own business class seat. For two back-to-back 10-hour flights, surely a lie-flat bed with a seat-belt would be more comfortable for the child. My reading of all the data also indicates that for a toddler/preschooler, using the adult seat-belt on an AIRPLANE (not a car) is just as safe as a carseat.

joshwex90

Problem with CARES is the lack of crotch strap

GUWonder

CARES isn't a car seat. I have a lot of CARES pouches left around. While this non-car seat device use works for most economy class seats, the same can't be said for long-haul flights' business and first class seats or even for some premium economy cabin seats.

By physics, it's well possible to hold a child on the lap when a plane hits most air-pockets.

BeatCal

Physics: a woman is holding an 8.18 kg, 18 pound, baby. The woman experiences a horizontal de-acceleration of 88.2 m/s2. How many g's is this de-acceleration? How much force must the woman exert to hold the baby in place?
Answer: 9 g’s; 721.48 N
force = weight x speed . If your child weighs 25 lbs. and your plane is traveling at 150 mph, your child exerts a force of 3750 lbs. Can your arms secure 3750 lbs. of weight in a crash situation? No,

Published on Aug 17, 2012
The most unsafe place for a child under 2 in an airplane is in your lap. No matter how tightly you hold your baby, you just can't fight G Forces. The FAA strongly recommends that children under 40 pounds be restrained in their own seat in a certified Child Restraint System. CARES is the only harness certified by the FAA to be equally as safe as a traditional car seat, and it weighs only a pound a takes one minute to install. For more information see www.kidsflysafe.com

Great Blog to read: https://carseatblog.com/6599/airplan...-to-know-pt-1/
FAA: https://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly%5Fchildren/
TIME: http://ideas.time.com/2012/06/12/lap...rs-on-a-plane/
USA TODAY:http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/trave...children_N.htm
FORBES: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngog.../#4ec5bcd1667f
CBS:http://www.cbsnews.com/news/perils-o...lap-on-planes/
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/speeches/D...ington_DC.aspx

generally when a child is around 40 lbs., he’s big enough to use the plane’s seatbelt, especially if the seatbelt is anchored forward of the bight. What’s that you say? That’s tech talk meaning that the seatbelt comes out of the plane seat a few inches in front of the crack of the seat. The seat belt will sit low across his thighs, just like it does on you.

BeatCal

It amazes me how many people on this board argue against a car seat. My kids were the most important part of my life. I and other pediatric trauma surgeons report child abuse when we see an infant brought in who was not restrained

lg10

@BeatCal - are you reading carefully? No one is in favor of unrestrained kids, on this thread, in the past many months. The question here was for a certain type of seat, whether a carseat is needed along with the airplane seatbelt. Passive-aggressive straw man arguments "well I love MY child" are unhelpful, even obnoxious.

GUWonder

Most airpockets hit by planes don't result in 9G forces acting against seated passengers -- nothing even close to 9G is common.

The most unsafe place for a child under 2 in an airplane is not the passenger lap. It's while neither child nor the holder of the child is not seated with someone strapped in.

BeatCal

GUW is no wonder you are a wonder as you know more than the FAA, NSTB, FA unions and others. Go back to insulting the TSA ("another example of the TSA being unsuitable for an open, democratic country")
As you are in the air alot, perhaps you should ask your friendly FA what they think and how often they have seen object being held "fly"

BeatCal

ig: I give you a post from earlier this year: "there is no such data for use of car seats on airplanes."

And Im sorry if you think the passive-aggressive argument is obnoxious. When you have seen the number of broken bones and concussions that I have, perhaps you would change your mind:^