mduell

A lot of safety products, like say bicycle helmets, are only designed for impact once once because they dissipate energy by material deformation and cracking. Are infant carseats designed for multiple collisions?

prncess674

They cannot legally take off if there aren't enough oxygen masks for the occupants of that row. This isn't a case of if you choose the wrong row then parents have to decide whether to put the mask on the child or themselves.

I traveled on an RJ with my sister and then 1 yr old nephew as a lap child. They knew at booking that we were traveling with an infant but once we got to the gate they had to do some rearranging and put us in a row that had the appropriate number of oxygen masks.

I don't think one of the ginormous toddler car seats would fit in an RJ seat.

gobluetwo

It does if you raise the arm rest (or, our Britax did, anyway). You just have slightly less room in the aisle seat, which may or may not be a problem depending on how wide you are. Wasn't an issue for me.

emcampbe

Since the wife and I are expecting next year, I've been doing my fair share of research, and understand that you should replace car seats if involved in even a minor accident (i.e. fender bender) - not sure if that's legally required or a recommendation, though. Don't know the details of the reasoning, but the above sounds very plausible to me.

Yes, most definitely the car seats need to be FAA-approved if brought in th cabin, though I'm not too sure either if all are. The better brands (Britax, Chicco, etc.), certainly are - there should be wording on the box that says something about being approved for road vehicles and aircraft, and there should also be a label on the seat itself stating it is FAA-approved, which an FA may require.


I do understand that UA allows one to gate check either a car seat or stroller, but do they allow you to regular check one, too? I was under the impression that if you checked it at the counter, you would have to pay for checking like any other bag? We're still working on figuring it out, but while its in my mind: anyone know how strict they are about gate-checking a stroller or car seat vs. both?

jhayes_1780

Thank the good folks of the car seat industry for building up that one.

An adjuster buddy told me, that there is a degree to which they should not be used in after an accident. His rule of thumb was airbag deployment, roll over, total loss, or any frame issues.

He mentioned its an easy thing to scare parents into buying new ones after the most basic low speed accident. As in:

"what? you won't spend a lousy $60.00 on your childs safety?"

"won't somebody think of the children"?


Very side note that wasn't asked or addressed:

We are talking about a car seat and not a booster, correct? As boosters are typically not FAA approved (and for pmUA were specifically forbidden for use inflight). But IME most car seats are approved.

LASUA1K

The point was to make sure the OP knows this when selecting seats, as then they will be playing musical chairs once they board and be forced to move to the other side of the aircraft. It's better to know ahead of time and choose seats that won't make any need to move.

As far as car seats in an RJ, the Diono seat is a great seat that fits anywhere.

chris_ny

This is good advice. We had this problem yesterday - we got bumped from our lovely front-row seats to the back of the bus because we were on the wrong side of the RJ for the extra oxygen mask.

prncess674

I only have the one data point of the EMB 145 with a 1-2 configuration. We were on the two side but only specific rows have the extra oxygen masks, so it isn't just picking the right side, but also picking the right row, which unfortunately not marked on seating charts available to the public to the best of my knowledge.

noah

No, car seat travels for free as checked baggage regardless where you check it. But a stroller you'd want to gate-check so you can get your little one from check-in through security to the gate to the plane.

lenny851

Thanks Eeryone.

I didn't know about the oxygyn. I think it will be on the small 50 seaters. I would prefer not be in the back row but if push comes to shove it is what it is.

My car seat is almost 300 dollars, i didnt know there were new convertable car seats in the 50-60 dollar range. My wife picked out the ones we have and i didn't really questions, i think i should have.

I might just buy the car seat and ship it to the people who are picking us up

appreciate all the advise

Best,
Lenny