I sent off an email as well.
I have a question about traveling with my infant. I'm hearing rumors that United will no longer be allowing rear facing child restraints on its aircraft. My daughter is seven months old, at the time of travel this summer she'll be right around 10 months old. She will not be 22 pounds (the forward facing minimum limit on her child restraint). There are no child restraints in the US that are FAA approved under one year old forward facing. And holding her on my lap is not a safe alternative. Is it true that flying domestically United no longer has a safe option for my infant? Either she flies forward facing against the manufacturer approval and FAA recommendations (http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/), or she flies on my lap against FAA recommendations? I hope the rumors I'm hearing are not true. I know this is the case for many European carriers, and so I make a point not to fly them while my children are safely of an age to rear face on the plane (which is to the limit of the child restraint, about three years for my tiny kids). If this is the case, United will be banned for us for travel until my children are older. Which is disappointing, as I've generally had pleasant and comfortable flights on United, and have no problem flying your airline.
If I travel on United to Europe at all, do you follow the FAA regulations as you're an American carrier, or do you follow the rules of the country to which you are flying? That can make a difference for me in planning international travel. I assumed American carriers followed the FAA and American rules, as long as one of the cities on the flight was an American city. If this is not the case I'd be very interested to know it.
Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to address this, and for helping to keep myself and my most precious cargo as safe as possible when flying.
Wendy Thomas
I have a question about traveling with my infant. I'm hearing rumors that United will no longer be allowing rear facing child restraints on its aircraft. My daughter is seven months old, at the time of travel this summer she'll be right around 10 months old. She will not be 22 pounds (the forward facing minimum limit on her child restraint). There are no child restraints in the US that are FAA approved under one year old forward facing. And holding her on my lap is not a safe alternative. Is it true that flying domestically United no longer has a safe option for my infant? Either she flies forward facing against the manufacturer approval and FAA recommendations (http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/), or she flies on my lap against FAA recommendations? I hope the rumors I'm hearing are not true. I know this is the case for many European carriers, and so I make a point not to fly them while my children are safely of an age to rear face on the plane (which is to the limit of the child restraint, about three years for my tiny kids). If this is the case, United will be banned for us for travel until my children are older. Which is disappointing, as I've generally had pleasant and comfortable flights on United, and have no problem flying your airline.
If I travel on United to Europe at all, do you follow the FAA regulations as you're an American carrier, or do you follow the rules of the country to which you are flying? That can make a difference for me in planning international travel. I assumed American carriers followed the FAA and American rules, as long as one of the cities on the flight was an American city. If this is not the case I'd be very interested to know it.
Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to address this, and for helping to keep myself and my most precious cargo as safe as possible when flying.
Wendy Thomas