diaperjoys
03-26-2008, 11:06 PM
We recently took a trip with all our children. (4 flights with 4 children, all ages 4 and under...) I did some research on this board before we left, and learned that a belt extender is a helpful thing when installing a ff MA. HOWEVER, this was our first flight since becoming a car seat freak, I had never done a MA + extender installation before, and ran into some problems. Yes, it's all pretty logical, but when you board the plane last and all your children are piled up in the aisle, and everyone wants you to sit down so the plane can leave...it just isn't the time for logical thought!
SO, here are the step-by-step instructions that I wish I could have read before we left!
[And for anyone who doesn't yet know... Why is a belt extender needed? An airline buckle has a latchplate that must be lifted up to release. The MA has a closed ff belt path. Once the belt is pulled tight, the buckle ends up buried in very tight quarters in the depths of the seat. The buckle isn't off to the side like a vehicle seat. It is near the very center of the seat. No room to lift that latch plate. And since the latch plate can't be lifted, the seat is there to stay. Until the stewardess comes. And then the pilot, and they all join you in the wrestling match with the seat, since you refuse to leave without the seat, and they can't leave until you do. Believe me. I know. I did read the suggestion that flipping the buckle before tightning can make things better, but I didn't find that helped any. But I confess that it was not my focus to figure out every installation possibility on this trip, so I could be missing something...
Belt extender instructions:
1. Recline the airplane seat.
2. Adjust the airplane seat belt as short as it will go. (not the extender, but the belt that is already attached to the airplane seat) This is the buckle that you will use to release the seat at the end of the flight.
3. Buckle the extender into the airplane seat belt. Extend it out a good bit, but leave enough of a tail to easily grab onto.
4. Position the child seat in the airplane seat.
5. Thread the belt through the ff belt path.
6. Buckle.
7. Reach through the belt path from the far side, grab the tail of the extender, and tighten. Allow some time. Expect scraped knuckles.
8. Add some weight to the seat and tighten a bit more. Don't try for rock solid, just get within the 1" rule.
9. Push the button, and pull the airplane seat into the upright position. (remember, it has been reclined up to this point) I had pull fairly hard to get it to come up.
10. Check the installation. It should now be rock solid.
(I like our installations to be very solid for take-off and landing, but when we are at cruising altitude I'm more into giving the kiddos maximum recline. (Sleep!) So we reclined the airline seats once we were well in the air, and wiggled the base forward a bit, and got a very sleep-able angle. If I made the installation rock solid when the airline seat is fully upright, then there was no way to increase the recline once in the air, unless I was willing to redo the installation on all four seats. I wasn't willing. For landing we pulled the airplane seat back up to tighten things up.)
11. At the end of the flight find the buckle that is out of the belt path. The one that you fully tightened in step 2. Unbuckle with ease!
SO, here are the step-by-step instructions that I wish I could have read before we left!
[And for anyone who doesn't yet know... Why is a belt extender needed? An airline buckle has a latchplate that must be lifted up to release. The MA has a closed ff belt path. Once the belt is pulled tight, the buckle ends up buried in very tight quarters in the depths of the seat. The buckle isn't off to the side like a vehicle seat. It is near the very center of the seat. No room to lift that latch plate. And since the latch plate can't be lifted, the seat is there to stay. Until the stewardess comes. And then the pilot, and they all join you in the wrestling match with the seat, since you refuse to leave without the seat, and they can't leave until you do. Believe me. I know. I did read the suggestion that flipping the buckle before tightning can make things better, but I didn't find that helped any. But I confess that it was not my focus to figure out every installation possibility on this trip, so I could be missing something...
Belt extender instructions:
1. Recline the airplane seat.
2. Adjust the airplane seat belt as short as it will go. (not the extender, but the belt that is already attached to the airplane seat) This is the buckle that you will use to release the seat at the end of the flight.
3. Buckle the extender into the airplane seat belt. Extend it out a good bit, but leave enough of a tail to easily grab onto.
4. Position the child seat in the airplane seat.
5. Thread the belt through the ff belt path.
6. Buckle.
7. Reach through the belt path from the far side, grab the tail of the extender, and tighten. Allow some time. Expect scraped knuckles.
8. Add some weight to the seat and tighten a bit more. Don't try for rock solid, just get within the 1" rule.
9. Push the button, and pull the airplane seat into the upright position. (remember, it has been reclined up to this point) I had pull fairly hard to get it to come up.
10. Check the installation. It should now be rock solid.
(I like our installations to be very solid for take-off and landing, but when we are at cruising altitude I'm more into giving the kiddos maximum recline. (Sleep!) So we reclined the airline seats once we were well in the air, and wiggled the base forward a bit, and got a very sleep-able angle. If I made the installation rock solid when the airline seat is fully upright, then there was no way to increase the recline once in the air, unless I was willing to redo the installation on all four seats. I wasn't willing. For landing we pulled the airplane seat back up to tighten things up.)
11. At the end of the flight find the buckle that is out of the belt path. The one that you fully tightened in step 2. Unbuckle with ease!