Flying with an EFTA

I will be flying Air Canada with my 7 month old DS, rear facing in a EFTA. Our flights are scheduled to be on a CRJ, airbus 319 and airbus 320. Anyone have any experience on these aircraft to know if it will fit? Their policy states the armrest is to be down, yet I don't know if that would be possible with any carseat.

When I was speaking with Air Canada reps today, the first one told me a seven month old couldn't use a car seat on board-that I couldn't buy a seat for him. The second one told me he could use the car seat during the flight, but I would have to hold him in my arms during take-off and landing !?!?!?! I explained that would definitely defeat the purpose of purchasing his own seat and that never in all the times I've flown with my kids has that been suggested. She told me it would be up to the flight crew the day we flew.

I've flown with an Evenflo Titan, a Marathon and a Radian (all FF, except for the Titan.) I could have the armrest down with all those seats (but you have to have it down when you install them, it won't go down after.) I imagine the EFTA would be the same since it sits up on a base similar to the Marathon.

Air Canada can be a bit of a crap shoot when using carseats. I've often been asked the age of my son (he's over two) and got the distinct impression on several occasions that had I said he was under two I would have been told to hold him (crazy!) My advice to you would be to print copies of TC's and AC's policies on child seats (here and here) and make sure the flight crew follow them.

This is AC's policy:

Air Canada is bound by Transport Canada regulations with regards to acceptable Child Restraint Devices.

• An infant for whom a seat has been purchased must be properly secured in a child restraint device.

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I hope that helps! Happy travels!

There was a post recently about the Canadian EFTA not being certified for airplane use. You may want to look at your seat to ensure that it doesn't state "not for airpline use". Here is the post with some discussion and pictures about the EFTA in Canada.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=39536

We flew Air canada in December when my son was 8 months. I couldn't tell you what planes we were on. They did give us a lot of trouble buying the seat for my son. We ended up buying a ticket marked child over 2 because they said it was impossible to buy a ticket for a baby under two. We did have 2 attendants asked us to show them the faa sticker. Only one insisted on checking the install even though she didn't seem to know what she was doing. She also told me that I needed to show her how to get my child out in the event I couldn't she needed to be able to rescue my child. That was the last of 7 flights we took during the season (3 different airlines) and the only one that asked a lot of questions.

I only saw an EFTA walk on a continental flight. Never got to ask how it fit. It was one of the seats I was looking at and we fly quite a bit so I was hoping to see how it fit, but never got the chance.

MomToEliEm said:

There was a post recently about the Canadian EFTA not being certified for airplane use. You may want to look at your seat to ensure that it doesn't state "not for airpline use". Here is the post with some discussion and pictures about the EFTA in Canada.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=39536

Click to expand...

I'll hear from Transport Canada tomorrow about this.

When I was speaking with Air Canada reps today, the first one told me a seven month old couldn't use a car seat on board-that I couldn't buy a seat for him. The second one told me he could use the car seat during the flight, but I would have to hold him in my arms during take-off and landing !?!?!?! I explained that would definitely defeat the purpose of purchasing his own seat and that never in all the times I've flown with my kids has that been suggested. She told me it would be up to the flight crew the day we flew.

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Yikes, CS reps are out to lunch.

Yes, you can purchase a seat for a 7 months old, but you do have to use an appropriate carseat (CMVSS 213 and 213.1)

MomToEliEm said:

There was a post recently about the Canadian EFTA not being certified for airplane use. You may want to look at your seat to ensure that it doesn't state "not for airpline use". Here is the post with some discussion and pictures about the EFTA in Canada.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=39536

Click to expand...

Thanks, that was actually my first post. I hadn't registered yet. For our recent flights we had no other carseat to use. Our DS just outgrew his infant seat and my husband only noticed the sticker as we were leaving. The manual does say it is approved. I was told by Evenflo that my Canadian EFTA is in fact identical to the US seat and it meets all FAA requirements, that is just couldn't be labelled that way because the FAA is an American agency and the seat is sold in Canada. It is labelled with the appropriate CMVSS stickers to indicate safe airplane use. We decided to fly with the seat despite the sticker as we felt it was a much safer option than holding him during the flight.

hipmaman said:

I'll hear from Transport Canada tomorrow about this.

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I am anxiously awaiting to hear what hipmaman hears from Transport Canada as we are flying again in a few weeks. Thank you for you efforts to clarify this!

Just noticed that my post got moved to the Canadian/International forums. I would like it to remain on the general boards if possible, as I am interested in flying with the EFTA in general, not just within Canada. Most of our flights we take are in the US. On our next flight one leg is on United. Can't seem to see how to move it back, maybe does a moderator need to do it? Thanks!

I moved the thread back to the main forum for you.

Thanks!
Also wondering if anyone has flown with an EFTA using the go go kidz travelmate?