Southwest Airlines Car Seat

[Jroberts]

We are taking our 3 year old daughter on a flight on Southwest down to Orlando to go to Disney. I've been looking through the blog to find car seat dimensions and can't find where the comparisons have gone. Southwest says the car seat needs to be below 17" wide to fit on the airplane seats. Everything I've looked at is higher than that. Does anyone have recommendations on which to use and if we need to use one at that age?

 

[wendytthomas]

Hi there.

Any seat will fit if it's aircraft approved. You'll just put the armrest up.

If she's under 40 pounds it's unlikely the plane's belt will fit her properly.

If she's over 40 pounds, but wiggly and won't leave the shiny buckle alone, or it'll be too high on her belly if she's shorter in her hip area, then I'd bring her seat to make her more comfortable and to make sure she doesn't unbuckle herself (three year olds and their families have been removed from planes since they're not complying with crewmember instructions to remain buckled).

If she's a calm and chill child, and over 40 pounds, you can probably leave the seat at home.

Wendy

 

[murphydog77]

Here's the comparison tool: http://carseatblog.com/compare/. I agree with Wendy, though you didn't say if you're renting a car or taking Disney transport. If you're renting a car, you'll definitely need to take a carseat with you.

 

[flutie128]

I have taken the Evenflo Maestro and the old Cosco Scenera. Both were forward facing and worked just fine. I believe she will have to have the window seat or at least that is what the flight attendants told me when we boarded.

 

[jroberts]

Thanks so much for the help. I've been wracking my brain and computer to find a Car Seat that was under 17" and Airplane approved, to date none have been found.

Yes we are renting a car when down there, so I figured we would take one along and no she's not much for sitting still.

Thanks again!

 

[barbilyn0875]

I just flew from Orlando to Salt Lake City this summer on Southwest with my 35lb 4 year old and we used a Graco Contender. It fit just fine. I could even put the armrest down. But like pp have said, if it's too wide, you just leave the armrest up.