UK carseat to US...

with a week til we fly, my mind is going crazy!! (ok, crazier!!) i originally was told by continental that we could take our carseat on board. after talking with some friends, i found out that this may not be the case if our car seat does not have a label on it specifying it conforms to UN standards. and that if our car seat is not allowed, Calvin will not be provided any other form of safety seat for the plane and he will have to sit in the seat. HA. yeah right.

has anyone here taken their UK carseat to the US with no problems.. or have you had problems?

i've also found out that our car seat may not be legal in the states we wish to travel!! need to call the DMVs in those states.

more stress, just what i need!!! 

thanks for any advice in advance as i may not be able to respond to all emails ..


(if i can make it to the states and back again without getting any grey hairs, i will be so pleased!!) 

Hiya Trish what a hassle!  I know this question has come up before and it seems like all the airlines have their own rules.   I've not heard of anyone not being allowed to use their carseat on the plane though.  What airline are you flying with? Maybe someone else has had experience with them.

When I first took my sons to Europe I was told the carseat had to have an FAA approved sticker on it! I actually found on and brought it with me but nobody bothered to check. To be honest I really dont think the airline personnel are going to bother checking for stickers on carseats when they have all kinds of other security and ticketing issues to deal with. Also when I worked for the airlines we werent trained to inform people about specific carseats. I dont know maybe things have changed. I really dont think you have anything to worry about. If you feel your carseat keeps your child safe then thats the one you should go with!
Good luck and enjoy your trip!!!

  What airline are you flying with? Maybe someone else has had experience with them.

we are flying with Continental airlines. when i asked, they do not have a list of approved to fly to US car seats and phoning Britax (maker of our carseat) the women there plainly and somewhat rudely informed me that NO UK carseats have approval to fly to the US, it is up to the individual airline to decide what carseats they let fly with them. i have the specs of our carseat, now to call Continental back and see what they say...

i SO don't need this now... but better now than at the check-in desk..

When I first took my sons to Europe I was told the carseat had to have an FAA approved sticker on it! I actually found on and brought it with me but nobody bothered to check. To be honest I really dont think the airline personnel are going to bother checking for stickers on carseats when they have all kinds of other security and ticketing issues to deal with. Also when I worked for the airlines we werent trained to inform people about specific carseats. I dont know maybe things have changed. I really dont think you have anything to worry about. If you feel your carseat keeps your child safe then thats the one you should go with!
Good luck and enjoy your trip!!!

i hope it isnt an issue. i really do.  the lady did tell me about the FAA sticker,but then she retracted the comment as she said the UK seats wont have it though.. the lady at Britax mentioned that their carseats do conform to the ECE (i think it was?) standards which i am thinking, that is the E number that is the same as the UN conformity.

good gods! its not supposed to be this crazy. i'm crazy enough!!!

thanks!!:)

when i flew to the US with my infant daughter in 2001, American wouldn't let me use my UK carseat during the flight because of the lack of FAA sticker.  they did let me carry it on the plane, just not use it .  on another flight with delta, i was told that i could use it during the flight but that it had to be stowed during take-off and landing.  virgin provides child seats.

we travel to NC and NY, and neither of those states cares what car seat you use, just so you use one. 

These are my experiences:

(7 international flights, using BA each time)

When Philip was in a rear-facing car seat we put the carseat in with the luggage and didn't use it on the flight. Instead we used the "bassinette" seats the airline provided, which looked a bit like a bouncy seat - it sits in a fold out table in the Cargo area. He was allowed to use it during the flight, but on take off and landing he needed to sit in our laps using the Figure 8 shaped seatbelt that went around we and him. When the "fasten safety belt" signs came on, he needed to be in our lap in those belts as well.

When Philip was in a forward facing seat, we did two things:

1. Brought the seat with us on the plane. We were told by the staff that it needed to be an "approved" 5 point harness in order for him to be allowed to use it during take-off and landing. The take-off and landing bits are where they are sticklers. Ours was a 5 point harness, but the airline attendant who was helping us wasn't *positive* it was "approved" ( there seems to be a lot of confusion on THEIR part, and no one seems to agree! ) so in order to play it safe we were told we had to have him on our lap during take-off and landing (using the special seat belt again) but could use the car seat during the flight. We actually chose to just stow it away (within the plane) at that point because as it turned out he enjoyed using that empty seat as a play space. So whatever.

2. We stored the car seat in with our luggage and collected it after the flight. We did this after doing the above scenario, just because we know what Philip is like and he doesn't like his car seat on the best of days, so is much happier (and less screamy) if he is on our lap. We also knew that if it got bad enough and we could tell he actually DID want to be secured in a seat, we could ask the attendant for their "bassinette" seat. (I don't know why they call it a bassinette seat, it is nothing like a bassinette... )

This time around (we are flying next weekend, but within the US) I am leaving his car seat in our car, flying him without it, and renting a car on the other end with a car seat already in it. If you are renting a car in the US, consider that as an option as well. You have to call the rental place ahead of time to ensure that they've got a seat for you, but it isn't a huge hassle usually.

Tips:

FIGHT for a Cargo seat if they din't automatically offer you one. And get the window seat. I say this just because you can put him closest to the window and yourself on the other side, which makes a nice (if small) "play area" on the floor, with you, the corner, and  the seat making the "walls" of the play area. This was the ONLY thing that kept Philip from spinning his head around and chucking pea soup at everyone on the plane. 

Bring ziplock bags. You can store wipes, towels, barfy clothes, etc in these without getting the rest of your carry-on stuff icky. They've saved our lives many, many times.   

You shouldn't have any problems driving in the US with your carseat, no matter what the state.  Britax seats are sold in the US (I have one) and as long as he's in the back seat and strapped in, that's all anyone will care about.

Good luck with the flight!

hey marlespo,
thanks for the response!! i wish we were flying BA as i like them best, but this time, continental was cheapest (and with 3 seats, ££ was a big factor on who we flew with!)  it turns out that our car seat is not approved for airline use because it cannot be fastened with only a lapbelt. plus it is too wide for the plane seat. so we are picking up one from Argos that we can use on the plane and in the US. gah. pain in the behind.

we've already been told we cant have a cargo area seat because car seats are not allowed there.  oh well... we'll just have to manage!

thanks for the ziplock bags idea (although i dont think i've ever seen zip-lock bags here, i'll find something that works!!)

What a huge pain in the butt!!!  Just goes to show it is so differtent even from airline to airline - I wish they would be consistent or something. Wishing you a GREAT flight...

What a huge pain in the butt!!!  Just goes to show it is so differtent even from airline to airline - I wish they would be consistent or something. Wishing you a GREAT flight...

it is.. luckily, we found a decent, airline approved carseat for £35.. sigh. still a pain though!!


thanks!!!:)

You shouldn't have any problems driving in the US with your carseat, no matter what the state.  Britax seats are sold in the US (I have one) and as long as he's in the back seat and strapped in, that's all anyone will care about.

Good luck with the flight!

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to say that although Britax sells car seats in both the US and the UK, the seats are not the same. So anyone concerned as the OP was about which safety codes/regs a seat meets would need to research that regardless of brand.

DD made her first transatlantic flights at 6 months and we did a total of 5 before she was 9 months old (most of them just me and her - my DH so owes me).  Our one experience of bringing our own (US Britax) car seat for use on the plan (American Airlines) was awful. IMHO the flight crew don't want you to bring your car seats and they get really pissy about it - one flight attendant was downright rude (hence costing AA the fares of three more transatlantic flights that followed).

LOVE LOVE LOVE the infant "bassinets" that BA has. Even if your child doesn't sleep in them (DD wouldn't sleep the whole flight in one - they are by the loos and it gets busy there, plus the lights in the cabin bothered her) they are invaluable if you are travelling alone and would like to be able to eat your dinner  as it gives the baby a place to chill with a toy for a while and not feel "held" the whole time (DD likes her independence).  Ultimately the best thing we have found so far (DD is now 14 months) is the Baby Bjorn infant carrier. She will sleep in that for hours at a stretch and it has been a lifesaver.

The first time DH saw the little infant seatbelts that you are required to use by BA, he laughed. There is no way to hold a fidgeting child in those. Plus the release latch is so much fun to play with when you are one year old  . A Baby Bjorn is so much more secure but you have to take the baby out and use their restraint for take-off and landing.  Anyway, my 2p on carseats and travelling with babies.

HTH someone in the future.

wow..someone found this thread again...
i meant to post back on it!!!!!!!!!!!


well, let me tell you, all the hassle, we ended up buying another britax car seat (fair enough really)
NO ONE checked the car seat, at the check-in or on the flight. coming and going.

but im glad we were well-prepared. because that would have been the worst time EVER for there to have been some sort of issue!!

other than that, the flights with Calvin went well!

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to say that although Britax sells car seats in both the US and the UK, the seats are not the same. So anyone concerned as the OP was about which safety codes/regs a seat meets would need to research that regardless of brand.

True, they aren't the same.  The point I was trying to make (and not very well) was that since Britax seats are sold in Europe as well as the US, they should meet US requirements for car use.  As of the last time I checked, which was about a year ago, Britax manufactures their US seats to European standards, which are higher than the US.  It was one of the reasons I chose to buy a Britax.

(I just re-read this, and I hope it made some semblance of sense.)