1 adult with 2 car seat on plane?

Hi,

I'll be travelling with my two kids (age 2 and 3) on a transatlantic flight in May. I was planning to have them both in their car seats, but I've been told by the airline that unless there is a 2nd adult, I can only bring 1 carseat on board, because there is no way in which I could place the car seats while still following all their rules. Here's the section about car seats from their rule book:

Infants or small children may be seated in a car seat on board under the following conditions:
* They are paying a child or adult fare
* The car seat must be certified for air travel and is able to be properly secured to the aircraft seat.
* Must fit between the armrests of the aircraft seats.
* No exit rows or aisle seats. On side rows the car seat must be placed in a window seat.
* On middle rows a member of the traveling party must be seated on both sides adjacent to the car seat.
* KLM/Delta does not provide infant/child seats
* Car seats are accepted at no fee in addition to the normal baggage allowance
* KLM/Delta accepts small folding strollers (umbrella type) as cabin baggage. On small aircraft this may be restricted.
* Bigger strollers are to be tagged as checked baggage. Where facilities allow for it, passengers may wheel their child in the tagged stroller to the departure gate, where it must be handed in for loading.
* A stroller not allowed in the cabin must be tagged to the final destination.

Surely I should be allowed to have both my kids in car seats? They are only 26lbs and 29lbs! I know for sure they will sleep a lot better too and it's an 11h flight. Has anyone traveled solo with more than 1 car seat and succeeded?

Thanks in advance for your stories, advice, etc!

Hi there.

If you're traveling Delta they must abide by the FAA regulations. http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/0/52b83b02fcc01375862577a60070fb65/$FILE/AC%20120-87B.pdf

That states that a carseat cannot block the egress of any passenger, including the parent, but you can have them next to one another in your row. Window, middle, you. OR, if you're in the middle you'd do that same order, but maybe stranger, child, child, you. You need to be able to get out so you can get them out.

"A row may contain more than one child safety seat if the children are from the same family or travel group."

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/special-travel-needs/children.html

Wendy

i've only flown on military flights and southwest with my kids but I always put them window, middle, and me in the aisle seat. It has been fine and no one has ever not allowed that arrangement. Some of the military people were confused but I don't think they get rear-facing car-seats on their flights all that often and they let me do what I wanted in the end.

If it's a code share and actually a KLM flight/crew, even if your ticket is Delta, they aren't bound by FAA rules. They are bound by EU rules and they don't have to allow you to use any seat (ie Air France and Alitalia don't allow infants in car seats during takeoff and landing).

I would use a cares harness for the 3yo and a seat for the 2 yo. Or book on a different carrier

bubbaray said:

If it's a code share and actually a KLM flight/crew, even if your ticket is Delta, they aren't bound by FAA rules. They are bound by EU rules and they don't have to allow you to use any seat (ie Air France and Alitalia don't allow infants in car seats during takeoff and landing).

Click to expand...

This is not a nitpick, but anybody considering European air carriers might be interested to know that Air France has significantly updated their rules in recent years. They now allow carseats, forward- or rear-facing, during all phases of travel, including takeoff and landing. (We flew them last year and some of the flight attendants weren't aware of the change, but they looked it up in their manual and eventually confirmed what it now says on their website.)

Alitalia's policies have also been updated to allow carseat usage for under-2s, but not over-2s, for whatever reason. I'm not sure I will ever understand their rules completely.

The code-share thing is something to watch closely for, but unfortunately that information is sometimes not very prominent in the booking process.