After 17 seamless flights we finally have a carseat problem on flight 18

After 17 seamless flights we finally have a carseat problem on flight 18*Update*

I said I'd come back and update. I heard from the FAA that they had passed the incident on to an investigator last week. Today I heard from Frontier, who also said they had heard from the DOT regarding the incident. They apologized profusely while pointing out the flight attendant was indeed wrong. They assured me they have sent the information to their Inflight department that handles training and flight attendant management. I'm hopeful they did indeed do this and at least the crew we dealt with is properly educated and passes on their new knowledge and understanding to any co-workers they come in contact with.
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I just wanted to share my bad experience on a Frontier/Republic Airways flight this weekend. I have read other bad carseat on plane experiences and been thankful we never had a problem, but kept meaning to print the FAA carseat policy information and never did. I wish I had now. DS has been on 18 flights from 3 months-25 months and always been in a carseat. No issues until flight 18. As we were taxiing out to the runway the flight attendant came and demanded DH turn DS' seat forward facing. I told him the FAA says you should use your carseat on the plane in the same way you use it in the car. Of course I didn't have the printed policy. :doh: The flight attendant just got angrier and told us company policy says all carseats have to face forward and if we didn't turn DS we couldn't fly...as the plane is still taxiing. I told him we wouldn't be turning DS unless the plane stopped moving. The pilot stopped the plane and DH turned DS seat. Later he insisted the flight attendant read him the policy that stated all carseats must be forward facing. When DH asked about infant buckets that can't be forward facing the flight attendant told him that on the plane they have to be forward facing. We both tried to explain that the policy was referring to forward facing AIRPLANE seats, not carseats had to be forward facing. The flight attendant was adamant he was right. As a former flight attendant I understand there's a lot of policies in the manuals and things aren't worded very well. It was just a bad situation all around. I'm sending a letter to Frontier, Republic Airways, and the FAA in hopes that they realize the employees need better information. I know a lot of people refuse to fly with carseats because of the hassle, despite knowing it is safer and misinformed employees don't make it any easier. DH said what makes him so sad is that obviously they don't see many carseats used on the aircraft since they didn't know anything about properly using them. I just wanted to share that even if you've had a ton of great flights with carseats it still may be worth printing a copy of the FAA policy because the next one may be the one where you need it.

Wow, I hope that with your efforts they get their staff better informed! I can't believe that he was even suggesting that infant seats be used in the forward facing position on flights. Glad to hear that the other 17 flights went without issue though!

Sorry to hear about the bad experience! And like you said, you've had all those other good experiences before this one, so that's a pretty good track record. I'm glad you didn't escalate it on the tarmac, because at 25 months, your ds is OK ff on a plane.

Please let us know if you hear back from the airline. I'm curious to know if they'll follow through with any training.

I knew DS was ok FF, though as a former flight attendant who has had her fair share of aborted take-offs and been in a few on the ground plane collisions I much prefer having him RF. He is still well within the Cocorro RF limits and the lady in front of him who spent the entire flight being kicked by a 2 year old who thinks its funny to do things mom & dad say not to would have much preferred he was RFing too I'm sure. My biggest concern is misinformation leading to a smaller infant being placed FF because the company failed to educate its employees on proper carseat use. I will update if I hear back. I'm not expecting they will do much, if anything to educate their employees.

But our odds of 17 good flights and only 1 bad one are certainly great odds for sure.

I had a similar experience... United FA was adamant that DD's Tribute be FF because "what if the person in front of her wants to recline." I had the circular though and argued with her (she walked off in a huff and was a (bad word) the rest of the flight), but I always wanted to ask her what about infant buckets!

Bump for update in original post.

I hope they do follow through! It would be great if your report helps saves future families from being told something against policy!

Re: After 17 seamless flights we finally have a carseat problem on flight 18*Update*

Thanks for the follow up. I've generally had positive experiences with flying with rear facing seats. Thankfully, the one flight attendant that gave me a problem did look in her manual when I insisted it was ok RF and came back to tell me that I was right "they must have changed the manual."

I've found that many flight attendants understand that infant seats are RF but get confused on convertible seats.