Coccoro FF on airplane?

[Mom2Livi]

I know many here have flown with this seat RF, but does anyone have experience flying with it FF? Do you need a belt extender?

 

[monica-m]

We used the Coccoro FF on British Airways. It installed beautifully and no seat belt extender was needed. It installed with a nice recline and DS was able to sleep comfortably. The only gripe I had was the tray was unusable for him but we were able to work around that.

 

[lyn_ak]

I used mine FF on South African airways Airbus 340-600. No seat belt extender needed. Was a little harder than RF, but easily doable. Son seemed comfy, had a nice recline.

 

[ketchupqueen]

The belt path is pretty open, so I'd think it would be hard to get a belt "stuck" like can happen with the seats that need an extender.

 

[Mom2Livi]

Okay, great! I was sure I read somewhere that you either needed to flip the buckle or ask for an extender with the Coccoro as well as the old style Britax seats. I did buckle my old style Britax Marathon in without flipping or using an extender years ago, and I did manage to get it loose myself but not without nearly having a heart attack.

 

[kaharris83]

Our experience was different. DH got our CCO very, very, very ridiculously stuck FF on a Frontier Airlines flight. It took over 30 minutes to get out and we were just about to call aircraft maintenance to unscrew.the seatbelt or cut it. DH said we will be using an extender for all of our FF installs on the plane from now on. He was ready to leve the seat.

 

[ketchupqueen]

Wow! Flipping would prevent that though, right?

 

[kaharris83]

I'm not sure. I've never installed a seat FF and this was his first FF install too. Maybe he did something wrong but he followed the manual instructions. It was a bad end to a flight that began bad too after the FA insisted on an active taxiway we turn our seat FF. I tried to give DH an extender but he said it fit without. When the flight was over he said it fit too well apparently. LOL

 

[Adorkable]

are they allowed to insist on FF?

 

[LISmama810]

are they allowed to insist on FF?

Not on a US-based airline in which the child meets the requirements of the seat.

 

[Adorkable]

Not on a US-based airline in which the child meets the requirements of the seat.

what if the kid is in the range where both RF and FF are ok? can you insist on keeping them RF as long as the seat fits the airplane?

do you have a link to any document from the FAA that i can keep on hand in case the FA thinks otherwise?

 

[kaharris83]

are they allowed to insist on FF?

No technically no. DS1 was 25 months at the time so most here would probably have no problem FF him, but we really preferred RF so he wouldn't kick the seat in front of him. Both DH and I argued as respectfully as we could but in the end since DS1 was over 2 we did turn him. After I took it up with the airline involved, their smaller contracted out airline, and the FAA. It was resolved and hopefully that crew will never do that to someone else. If DS1 had been younger there's no way I would have turned him and you would have probably seen me on the news.

 

[LISmama810]

You can use it however you like, as long as you adhere to manufacturer instructions.

http://carseatblog.com/8037/guest-blog-flying-with-a-car-seat-know-your-rights/

 

[kaharris83]

what if the kid is in the range where both RF and FF are ok? can you insist on keeping them RF as long as the seat fits the airplane?

do you have a link to any document from the FAA that i can keep on hand in case the FA thinks otherwise?

What airline are you flying? I encourage you to check their website and print their policy directly from their site. I found in our experience the crew could have cared less what the FAA said. They were stickimg with their poorly worded company policy that referred to only using a CRS on a "forward facing aircraft seat"-which we all read as the plane seat, notthe car seat must be forward facing. Our crew didn't understand that as they had never seen a rear facing airplane seat.

 

[Adorkable]

thank you for he info, this is the first time we are using carseats on the plane

yeah my twins will be nearly 27m but i would like them rear facing for ease of interaction and since facing that way stops them from chucking all their toys onto the ground for my to struggle to pick up. and the kicking, and the safety, though frankly in this particular case the safety is just a tiny added bonus. the RF in cars and will for years, but planes, i could take it or leave it, im guessing 99.999% of issues that will come up on a plane will be either one that is so minor or because it is catastrophic, really wont matter what way they are facing, just secured and as comfortable as possible is the goal.

 

[Adorkable]

What airline are you flying? I encourage you to check their website and print their policy directly from their site. I found in our experience the crew could have cared less what the FAA said. They were stickimg with their poorly worded company policy that referred to only using a CRS on a "forward facing aircraft seat"-which we all read as the plane seat, notthe car seat must be forward facing. Our crew didn't understand that as they had never seen a rear facing airplane seat.

interesting point, i remember reading that. i have seen rear facing airplane seats, on some charter companies and also the FA seats are often RF.

i get the confusion

i am flying Alaska the tend to hire folks with brains, but not always

 

[Adorkable]

sucha great blog post! see this is why this website is so darn useful!

 

[oliviacw]

i am flying Alaska they tend to hire folks with brains, but not always

We've flown Alaska quite a bit with my daughter (she's just under 2 now and still rear-facing). Only once were we questioned - a flight attendant told us that she thought the seat needed to be forward facing.

We said 'oh, no, we've flown with her a lot this way. the seat is good for rear-facing until she's much older. Some people think you can't have the car seat rear facing but really the rule is it can't be installed on a rear-facing seat like your jump seats.'.

That pretty much stunned her into silence, an she said something about how you learn new things all the time.

Sometimes we do get flight attendants who ask if the seat was checked by the gate people to make sure it was ok on the plane. It's funny because the gate people never do that, but we just say yes, the seat is FAA approved for airplanes. They are happy with that. And since we can jnstall it quickly and look like we know what we are doing, they tend to leave us alone about it.

 

[Adorkable]

One of the better golden rules:

Act like you know what you're doing and people will assume you do.