bensmom
10-04-2007, 08:01 PM
I had an interesting conversation with a flight attendant today on Northwest. DS2 (18 months, 27.5 pounds) was RF in a Scenera next to the window. Towards the end of the flight, one of the flight attendants came over to me and said that his seat is supposed to be forward facing. She indicated that the other flight attendants were new and didn't know, but that seats "with a back" (i.e., convertibles, as opposed to infant carriers) needed to go forward. She tried to explain that it had something to do with the seats breaking forward and that convertibles are different that carriers but it didn't make much sense.
I had forgotten to take the FAA regs with me, but I politely asked if she was sure, indicating that I had checked the FAA regulations before the flight and they said RF is ok, as long as you install it in accordance with the seat manufacturer's instructions. I said that I'd be interested in seeing what the manual said because it seems to conflict with what I had found when I looked it up.
She came back at the end of the flight to let me know that I was right :)
She said that Northwest recently changed their manual too, to eliminate any reference to weight of child for FF/RF and that RF is fine, as long as you are in the window seat (which DS was). She did say, however, that if the person in front complains about the lack of recline and they don't have another seat to move him to, the child needs to be turned FF (I'm not sure what happens if the kid is under 1 - I didn't ask; I also don't know why anyone would want to recline into the lap of a child in a carseat - prime kicking target :)).
Just thought I'd share.
I had forgotten to take the FAA regs with me, but I politely asked if she was sure, indicating that I had checked the FAA regulations before the flight and they said RF is ok, as long as you install it in accordance with the seat manufacturer's instructions. I said that I'd be interested in seeing what the manual said because it seems to conflict with what I had found when I looked it up.
She came back at the end of the flight to let me know that I was right :)
She said that Northwest recently changed their manual too, to eliminate any reference to weight of child for FF/RF and that RF is fine, as long as you are in the window seat (which DS was). She did say, however, that if the person in front complains about the lack of recline and they don't have another seat to move him to, the child needs to be turned FF (I'm not sure what happens if the kid is under 1 - I didn't ask; I also don't know why anyone would want to recline into the lap of a child in a carseat - prime kicking target :)).
Just thought I'd share.