InternationalMama
New member
Ketchupqueen - The people you heard those tales from probably misunderstood what was happening. Sometimes people think their flight is run by X airline, but it's actually a codeshare with that airline. For the purposes of carseat rules it matters who is -operating- the flight, not who you bought your ticket from. So those people may have thought they were flying USAir on both flights, but they were actually flying USAir leaving the US and Lufthansa on the way back, or some such thing. They attributed the difference to the country of departure, but that wasn't where the difference actually was. When you buy tickets through Expedia etc. you can look at the section that says "operated by" to see whose rules you will be subject to.
If you do a google search you will find many disgruntled passengers wondering why they weren't allowed to use their FAA-approved car seats on various flights leaving the US (usually BA, Virgin etc. cause the most problems because they don't allow rearfacing seats so no infant buckets).
This is the biggest area of confusion when it comes to using car seats on planes. If you want to be sure you will be allowed to use an FAA-approved seat or device on an airplane you have to fly American, no codeshares. You -may- be able to use those seats/devices on other airlines, but you can't produced an FAA circular to prove that you can. If you are flying on an American airline you are always under FAA rules no matter what the country of departure is. The flight attendants still may not understand those rules, but -that- is where your FAA circular comes into play. (And I know this from experience because I've haggled with the head flight attendant over the wording of the FAA rules on flights departing Europe and heading for the US.)
If you do a google search you will find many disgruntled passengers wondering why they weren't allowed to use their FAA-approved car seats on various flights leaving the US (usually BA, Virgin etc. cause the most problems because they don't allow rearfacing seats so no infant buckets).
This is the biggest area of confusion when it comes to using car seats on planes. If you want to be sure you will be allowed to use an FAA-approved seat or device on an airplane you have to fly American, no codeshares. You -may- be able to use those seats/devices on other airlines, but you can't produced an FAA circular to prove that you can. If you are flying on an American airline you are always under FAA rules no matter what the country of departure is. The flight attendants still may not understand those rules, but -that- is where your FAA circular comes into play. (And I know this from experience because I've haggled with the head flight attendant over the wording of the FAA rules on flights departing Europe and heading for the US.)
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