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Which car seats can be used on airplanes?
Any car seat that has a label stating it is "certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft" can be used on an airplane. Foreign seats can be used as long as they are labeled as meeting the standards of a foreign government or the United Nations. This includes infant seats, convertibles, forward-facing seats and combination seats with harnesses (often called "harnessed boosters," these are allowed if used in 5-point harness mode).
Which are best? The narrower the better--car seats less than 16 inches wide will fit on most airplanes. Lighter car seats are also better for air travel, since you'll need to carry them down the aisle and lift them up onto the seat. We've found it easy to travel with the products on this page.
Which car seats cannot be used on airplanes?
Aircraft seats and seat belts are different from motor vehicle seats and seat belts, and crash tests have shown that the car seats listed below may not protect a child in an aircraft seat. Therefore, they are not allowed during take-off and landing, even though some have labels saying they are certified for aircraft use.
- Belt-positioning booster seats. Boosters that use a lap and shoulder belt in a car cannot be used, since in an airplane there is no shoulder belt for upper-body restraint.*
- Travel vests, even if labeled as okay for aircraft. A vest with a rigid plate behind the child allows too much forward movement.
- Belly Belts (a product used to hold a child on an adult's lap, allowed in other countries)
*Note: Combination car seats, sometimes also called boosters, are allowed if used in 5 point harness mode
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