Been MIA... looong airline story

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
We just got back from a 5 hour flight... when will flight attendants learn to not argue with determined mothers????

Mikkel was a lap baby (never again, but now DH understands why). Aiden used the MA on the plane and his Radian went folded in the overhead bins on the airplane.

On the way there we started out with Mikkel as a lap baby and Aiden FF in the MA. As soon as we were in the air, DH moved to an empty seat farther away, Aiden went into the airline seat and Mikkel went into the MA. Twenty minutes later, Mikkel's MA went RF to make him stop kicking the seat in front of him. He promptly fell asleep for the next 2.5 hours, yay!

On the way home... where do I start?
I got the third degree at the check in counter about Aiden using a car seat on the plane, he is over two you know.:rolleyes: I guess they expect all children over two years old to fly in the lap belt only on the plane. I specifically showed the man his computer screen that clearly said under 40lbs should be in a child restraint. He wasn't able to connect the under 40lbs child that should be in a restraint with the 36lbs child standing in front of him, but finally let it go... he was being nice, don't ya know:rolleyes:

Then we get to the gate and ask the attendant at the gate if there are any available seats to put Mikkel in his carseat on the plane. They tell us the plane is completely full and do not have a seat for him. Then they proceed to start writing a gate check ticket for my car seat and I say no, Aiden will be using the MA. The Radian is going in the overhead bins as carryon. They also did not seem to understand this until I forcefully said, I will NOT gatecheck my carseats. They stopped writing the gatecheck ticket and let me take both seats on the plane.

We get on the plane and I install the MA, then put Aiden in it and get the rest of us strapped in and ready to go. The flight attendant comes by and goes, "Oh, I thought that carseat was for your little guy (meaning Mikkel). I'll let it slide this time, but he's not allowed to be in that seat on this plane". To which I reply, yes, he is. He meets FAA regulations and requirements. Then, he gets all huffy and closes in on my face while telling me that I do not know his job, he knows what he is talking about. Okay... I fibbed here, I told him I was certified and did this all the time. He said I am wrong and if I like he would go get his in flight manual and show me that I was not allowed to use the seat. I said, please do!

He came back 5 minutes later and starts instructing DH on how to hold Mikkel for take-off, blah, blah, blah. At the end of his speel he says to me, The manual is a little confusing, I'm still checking on the requirements. I told him, that's okay, I understood that it could be confusing to people that were not used to dealing with these issues. He starts walking away, and then looks back over his shoulder and asks if Aiden meets 213 requirements. I replied of course... but I really wanted to say, no he doesn't, the car seat meets 213 requirements and Aiden meets the requirements of the seat. The idiot was testing me and didn't even know what he was talking about!

He came back a third time about half way through the flight to apologize and state that he didn't know the flight attendant at the front of the plane had already checked out my seat to make sure it met their requirements. I gave up at that point... no one other than the original check in had ever checked my seats.

We got free food for the entire flight and he apologized a fourth time as we were leaving the plane. The jerk knew he was wrong and didn't want to totally come out and admit it.

We did end up getting an extra seat. DH went up 3 rows, Aiden went into DH's seat and Mikkel went into Aiden's seat FF. I did recline the airline seat half way through the flight and he slept reasonably well for two hours or so. RF is definitely easier on the plane and everywhere else for that matter.

It was also a really good thing I had the Radian as carry-on because in the midst of all this happening a family sat down in the row in front of us. Thier boys were the exact same age as my boys and they had no carseats. The check-in people took their carseats and checked them for them. They had purchased a seat for their under two year old (he's two next month) and put him in the lap belt only on the plane. The flight attendants stated that he MUST be in a carseat in order to use the seat, so they had to treat him as a lap baby and he was not allowed to use the plane seat they had purchased for them. Apparently it is a rule that any child under two with a purchased seat MUST use a child restraint.

I piped up that I had the Radian and they could use that if they wanted. We were already getting ready to taxi out to the runway so they wouldn't let me install it for take-off. He got treated as a lap baby for take-off and as soon as we were in the air, I pulled the Radian out of the overhead bin and installed it for their 23 month old to use. They were pretty irritated that they were told to check their carseats.

Never again will I have a lap baby. My kids will always have purchased seats.

Aiden was totally slumped in his airline seat less than 20 minutes after sitting down in it and it did not go tight enough over him. He still had a good inch of slack with the belt tightened all the way.
 
ADS

wondering1

New member
Wow! Please write the airline a letter. Parent need to stop being harassed. We have unusual things come up at work and we have "go to" people to help us work through it. We don't come out and get all nasty just because we don't know!
 

lovinwaves

New member
Wow, great story thanks for sharing. I loved the part where you said you lied about being a Tech ROFL!!!

That's awesome those parents got to use your extra Radian. That was very nice of you!

So did you have fun wherever you went?
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
Wow, great story thanks for sharing. I loved the part where you said you lied about being a Tech ROFL!!!

That's awesome those parents got to use your extra Radian. That was very nice of you!

So did you have fun wherever you went?

We had a blast. We just went to see my niece (2 in July) and my brand new nephew (6 weeks). I have such bad baby fever now. I can't wait to have another!
 

broken4u05

New member
Good for you great story. and it is a cool thing you let them use your seat. If only they knew to stand up for themself too
 

BudgieStew

New member
So to be clear the airline told you one thing- that you were not allowed to use a car seat and then went and told the other family that they must.
Sigh.
This is why I hated being a Travel Agent airlines are all over the board with their so called rules.

Who was it Air Canada? Please don't say WestJet I loved dealing with WestJet. They are such a fun airline.

My close friend is a flight attendant for Air Transat I should ask her what they are told. It never occured to me before.
Although when she flies with her son who will be two in August they don't even take a car seat since on the islands(Caribbean) no one uses a car seat so why bother. Her husband is from St Lucia.

You are all making me scared for the next time I fly..DS was always a lap baby and we always had properly installed car seat at destination so I never even brought one with us.
In fact the whole thought of flying gave me such nightmare when thinking about flying solo with a 5 month old and a 2 year old I made DH drive me home last time...15 hours straight on the road. It was a extremely unpleasant trip so I am not sure which would be better.
 

mamato2

New member
Oh wow, all these stories about being harassed about car seat usage has me worried. I'm traveling with my two (9 and 5 1/2) in June and I plan to bring our Scenera for my 5 year old to use. My 9 year old is barely safe in a plane seat (some belts just don't get tight enough for her slender self) and my little 5 year old is NOT going to fly belt only.
I must say I've rarely had troubles before, but I've always just walked on and quickly installed the seat so that by the time the stewardesses are strolling around we are all set to go.
Where do I go to print out the FAA regulations about seats? I'm thinking maybe I should have them on hand just in case.
C.
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
We flew WestJet in February to go to Disneyland and they were FANTASTIC.:D They will also be the only airline we book with in the future, unless we MUST choose someone else because they don't fly to the location we are going to.

This was Air Canada and they, obviously, were NOT.:p

Their policy is that any child UNDER two years old with a purchased airline seat (NOT a lap baby) MUST use a child restraint.

They assume that any child OVER two years old will not be using a child restraint and in our recent experience, the flight attendant (and check in attendant) decided this was a rule and not just a generalization... even after showing the check in agent his screen that clearly stated children under 40lbs were allowed to be restrained in an FAA approved child restraint.:rolleyes:

I think it's totally fine to fly with children, you just need to be prepared with the facts and have a back up plan in case something happens... my backup plan included getting kicked off the plane and finding every single news crew in the area:D
 

all together ooky

New member
Gosh, I'm sorry you got harrassed about the carseats! When we flew in Dec. with my 2 1/2-year-old we actually had a flight attendant tell us that it was great that we had the carseat for her. And on all the flights they helped to install it! The only problem we had was that at the end of one flight an attendant didn't like waiting for us to uninstall it. I think she was just crabby though-must have had a bad day.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
That's so sad. If I were that other family, I'd demand a refund. :( I'm glad to know the Radian fits in the overhead though as I think that's what we're going to do w/ AJ's seat when we fly.

The last time we flew, they kept trying to get me to turn Evan ffing despite him being obviously under 1/20#. Then they kept checking his seat b/c they couldn't figure out how I'd installed it. :mad:
 

twokidstwodogs

New member
Wow, that sounds terrible. I have flown with my kids on lots of airlines, and never been given a hard time like that. I do mostly fly Southwest; maybe they are better trained. Regardless, sounds like Air Canada has some work do to.....
 

Pawy

New member
Does any one know the reason why they just havent made it so that a child cannot travel with out a child restraint on a flight..?
 

stayinhomewithmy6

Senior Community Member
Thanks for sharing your story. We've never flown with the our kids, but if we do, I will insist on purchasing seat for all of them! That guy was an idiot... good for you for standing up to him!
 

Jessie78

New member
I've been through this recently too!
AirNewZealand states (in their very fine print) that children under 2 with their own seat must use a child restraint. Yet my 'just gone 2' boy was almost not allowed to use his FAA app. Scenera in his purchased seat, on a domestic flight. If not for me being so stroppy and sure of myself, my tiny boy would have been in the lap belt. Both ways, the checkin people had to check, double check and triple check, on their computer and in a book, that his seat was allowed on the plane. They almost had nervous breakdowns each time! Quantas going home was even worse. They couldn't conceive that I would want him in a child restraint. But I already had Miss Em in a sling and knew the best thing for him was a 5pt harness! Interestingly, some much younger kiddies were a few rows in front of us without carseats, and were slithering around all over the place!
Previously, when Xander was 16 months I took him on the same plane trip with his Touriva, and popped it in RF out of habit. The stewardesses had a major hissy fit, they said "oh but this isn't the way you'd have it in the car, he's too old! You *need* to switch it FF". I politely declined and said it most definitely WAS the way he had it in the car LOL. :rolleyes:

I think air / ground crew need to be brought up to the play on their own policies, I mean I know you're basically screwed when a plane crashes anyway, but carseats are also great for turbulence, and keeping the darn kid in one place for the trip LOL. ;)
 

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