Installing a car seat period can seem like a daunting task, but installing one on a plane, when you have limited time and the pressure of dozens of people trying to get seated while you are installing the car seat, can seem overwhelming.<\/p>\n
For the most part, installing the car seat in the plane, though, is a lot like installing it at home with the lap belt. Read the installation instructions carefully and try it a few times at home before you get onto the plane. This way, you’ll be familiar with the process and able to quickly install the seat on the plane.<\/p>\n
You can also check into family pre-boarding. Not all airlines extend courtesy boarding for families anymore, but many still do (Southwest!), and even for airlines where there is no stated policy of allowing family boarding, it never hurts to ask the gate agent if it would be possible for you to board early. If you can’t board early, and you don’t have a lot of carry-on luggage or the flight is not very full, consider waiting until the plane is already mostly boarded before getting on yourself.<\/p>\n
Below, I’ve shared general instructions for how to install car seats on planes, including forward- and rear-facing car seats and the CARES system, which is an FAA-approved safety restraint for older children.<\/p>\n
The FAA has a great video<\/a> showing how to install a forward-facing car seat on an airplane. Of course, you’ll never have as much room as the mom featured in the video, but at least you get the idea. The general steps are:<\/p>\n A tip for getting the car seat in tightly: start with the seat reclined, and lean up once you get the seat buckled in.<\/p>\n A common problem with forward facing seat belts is that sometimes, on some car seats, it can be difficult to get the belt unbuckled as the flap to unlatch the belt points into the seat. Tips to avoid this problem:<\/p>\n When installing a rear-facing car seat on a plane, you will want to use the same instructions you would normally use for installing your rear-facing car seat in a car using the lap belt.<\/p>\n If you absolutely can’t get your car seat installed rear-facing on the plane, try installing it forward-facing before making the decision to stow it. Even if your child is generally too small to ride forward-facing, being buckled in forward-facing on a plane will still be helpful in the event of severe turbulence.<\/p>\n If you have a child who is 2-4 years old, weighs between 22 and 40 lbs., and is less than 40″ tall, consider using the CARES system. They are less bulky than car seats and a good option for keeping children safely restrained in a plane seat. This video <\/a>provides excellent instructions on installing a CARES system on a plane.<\/p>\n Read on to find out the best car seats on airplanes<\/a> and how to transport your car seat in the airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n * This post originally ran on May 30, 2013. It was edited and republished on September 1, 2014 and July 17, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Check out these instructions and tips for how to install a car seat on a plane quickly and easily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38,31],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-safety","8":"category-travel","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6196,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions\/6196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mominleggings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Rear-Facing Car Seat:<\/h2>\n
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CARES:<\/h2>\n