Hi, I have a bit of a conundrum. I flew to Asia with my Graco Snugride 35. I paid for a ticket for my son so that he could travel safely and comfortably in his familiar car seat. It was a nightmare! I will skip details (but will happily vent with little prompting) but we had to be re-routed at the last minute from Air Canada to Cathay Pacific, which does not allow rear facing car seats at all. Period. Something about the Snugride being a "cradle carrier" and "not compatible with airline seats".
Anyway, we are flying back on Singapore Airlines and they also do not allow RF CRS. I contacted them to ask why and they said they follow the UK-CAA recommendations and although the UK-CAA has recently amended their recommendations to allow RF CRS, Singapore Airlines is still reviewing the change and as of now their policy of no RF stands.
We're getting to my question, I promise! My husband is still in the US and will be joining us for the last part of our trip in a couple weeks. We decided he would bring a forward facing car seat with him for DS to use on the way back. We have a Britax Boulevard 70 CS and a Cosco Scenera RF40 at home. (I had DH go to Target over the weekend to get the Scenera.) I thought I would have him bring the Scenera since I didn't want to risk checking the $$$ Blvd. Even though DS is under 1 yr (9.5m), he is a big guy at 21+ lbs and 30+ in. I figured I would rather have him FF on the plane than bounce around in the belly belt (which IMO is completely ineffective), esp since I already paid for him to have his own seat. But I've just downloaded the Scenera manual and it says no FF until 1 yr, 22lbs and 34"! DS fails on all counts. The Blvd just says 20lb and 1 yr for FF, so at least he would be within the weight limit if not the age limit.
Should I still stick with my original plan to have DH check the Scenera and put DS in it FF which will probably still be better than using the belly belt? Or should I have DH check our expensive Blvd and take the risk that it will suffer invisible damage that could potentially endanger DS in the future? What about contacting DHs airlines (United, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific) to see if they will let him gate check the Blvd even though he will be traveling alone to meet us? I understand gate checking is marginally better than regular luggage checking, but I would still worry about invisible damage to the Blvd since that will be our primary carseat once DS outgrows the Snugride. Also DH (very likely) may forget to pick it up at the end of each flight segment. If he checks the Scenera, will it be safe to use after this trip? It's only $50 so I have no problem ditching it just to be safe but I wonder if maybe we can put it in Grandma's car once DS is old/big enough for the CARES harness.
Sorry for the long post, but I couldn't find something similar in previous posts. Or at least, I couldn't figure out what search terms to use.
I would really appreciate any advice. TIA!
Anyway, we are flying back on Singapore Airlines and they also do not allow RF CRS. I contacted them to ask why and they said they follow the UK-CAA recommendations and although the UK-CAA has recently amended their recommendations to allow RF CRS, Singapore Airlines is still reviewing the change and as of now their policy of no RF stands.
We're getting to my question, I promise! My husband is still in the US and will be joining us for the last part of our trip in a couple weeks. We decided he would bring a forward facing car seat with him for DS to use on the way back. We have a Britax Boulevard 70 CS and a Cosco Scenera RF40 at home. (I had DH go to Target over the weekend to get the Scenera.) I thought I would have him bring the Scenera since I didn't want to risk checking the $$$ Blvd. Even though DS is under 1 yr (9.5m), he is a big guy at 21+ lbs and 30+ in. I figured I would rather have him FF on the plane than bounce around in the belly belt (which IMO is completely ineffective), esp since I already paid for him to have his own seat. But I've just downloaded the Scenera manual and it says no FF until 1 yr, 22lbs and 34"! DS fails on all counts. The Blvd just says 20lb and 1 yr for FF, so at least he would be within the weight limit if not the age limit.
Should I still stick with my original plan to have DH check the Scenera and put DS in it FF which will probably still be better than using the belly belt? Or should I have DH check our expensive Blvd and take the risk that it will suffer invisible damage that could potentially endanger DS in the future? What about contacting DHs airlines (United, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific) to see if they will let him gate check the Blvd even though he will be traveling alone to meet us? I understand gate checking is marginally better than regular luggage checking, but I would still worry about invisible damage to the Blvd since that will be our primary carseat once DS outgrows the Snugride. Also DH (very likely) may forget to pick it up at the end of each flight segment. If he checks the Scenera, will it be safe to use after this trip? It's only $50 so I have no problem ditching it just to be safe but I wonder if maybe we can put it in Grandma's car once DS is old/big enough for the CARES harness.
Sorry for the long post, but I couldn't find something similar in previous posts. Or at least, I couldn't figure out what search terms to use.
I would really appreciate any advice. TIA!