Can I use my carseat or baby capsule on an Airplane?

Posts Tagged travel with kids

Can I use my carseat or baby capsule on an Airplane?

The short answer is – yes for the carseat; definately no for the capsule.

Child restraints that are not permitted for aircraft use are:
  • Baby Safety Capsule
  • any other type of Baby Carrier that requires the use of a base
  • Booster seats or Booster Cushions
  • Child Safety Harnesses (except CARES Aviation Harnesses – an air travel specific harness, please click the link for more info).

Some airlines that operate under the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will accept child seats on their aircraft that are compliant with the Australian Standard. Currently we understand that the companies that do include Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Blue, and the regional airlines. These airlines should accept your restraint without question although some customers have reported that they have had to have the seat to be checked before the flight for fit the day before. The width of the child restraint may be more of a concern for smaller aircraft used in regional services such as Rex etc. It is best to always check with the airline some time before you’re due to fly.

CARES harness

Unlike seats made in America, Australian standard restraints do not have a sticker or indicator that says “Suitable for use in aircraft” as our standard does not have this requirement. Your Airline may look for this statement as it is accepted by the USA Federal Aviation Authority, however, all airlines should accept the CASA acceptance of Australian child restraints. Sometimes however, the staff onboard the aircraft are not aware of this so again its really worth the call before you fly to check.

Please note: The tether or upper anchorage strap does not need to be attached although Qantas do have dedicated seats where child restraints can be fitted and the tether or upper anchorage strap connected to straps fitted to the aircraft. This seat must be requested on booking.

You will need to book and pay for a seat to use your child restraint when flying and this can be arranged at the time of booking or through your travel agent.

Airlines do provide an additional strap for very young children and babies and that uses the parent’s seat belt and does not require an extra seating position so if you don’t wish to take your carseat with you this is always an option, or you can hire a CARES Harness for the trip.

Some airlines do provide child restraints for use in their aircraft. Again, we suggest you check with your travel agent or with the Airline at the time of booking.

Safe travels!

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Why Rearfacing

This post is Part 1 of a 6 Part Series written by our Restraint Fitting Team to try and help parents sort through the many products, myths and misinformation that exist around kids and cars.

Trying to work out which one of the many car seats on the market to buy or hire as your babies first restraint product can be confusing. We know you want a quick answer – what’s the safest? The path to making a choice these days is more bewildering than ever, thanks to a raft of product innovations and the recently implemented National child restraint laws introduced in 2010. If you don’t know your locking clip from your top tether, or what a travel system is all about, let us help cut through the confusion.

What are the rules?

Laws across Australia in relation to kids and cars are the same, in every State and Territory. Children must be in an approved child restraint from birth up to 7 years and require:
  • Children aged under six months to use an approved rearward facing restraint such as a baby capsule or a rear facing carseat;
  • Children aged between six months and under four years to use an approved rearward facing child restraint or a forward facing restraint (rear facing is proven to be significantly safer so the longer you can keep your child rear facing, the better);

Children aged between four years and under seven years to use an approved forward facing restraint OR an approved booster seat.

There are also laws for where children can sit in vehicles:

If a car has two or more rows of seats, children under four years cannot travel in the front seat;
Children aged between four and seven years will not be permitted to sit in the front seat unless all other seating positions are already occupied by children under seven years.

What are the penalties?

Just like seatbelt laws, drivers will be fined and incur demerit points if passengers under seven years of age are not wearing an approved child restraint.
Children under 6 months of age must use a rearward facing child restraint and travel only in the rear row of a motor vehicle. If your vehicle does not have a rear row, this does not apply. However, a rearward facing child restraint cannot be used in the front seat where there is a passenger airbag.

So why is rear facing so important?

Most parents are keen to move their child into a forward-facing car seat as soon as possible, so parents seeing the switch as a milestone like baby getting first teeth or taking his or her first steps. Understandably, parents think their baby will be happier facing forward and getting a better view of the world. This may be true in some cases but its a huge risk to take. The baby doesn’t understand that they’re much safer facing rearwards in the event of a collision so its up to us as parents to manage that risk for them.

The most dangerous collisions tend to be front on and a child in a forward facing seat will be flung more forcefully forwards. Additionally, the load of the impact on a baby’s body in a forward facing seat will inevitably be concentrated on the harness area (read – on baby’s internal organs), whereas in a rearfacing seat the load of deceleration is spread across the shell of the car seat, so it’s less concentrated and a much lower impact load on baby. Also in a rear facing seat the baby’s head movement will be much less, so the risk of serious injury to their head and neck will be much reduced (this is a particular issue for babies as their heads are larger relative to their bodies than those of older children and adults).

So much research evidence has built up on this from crash testing that Europe is introducing new laws to keep babies rearfacing until 15 months.

We recommend you keep your baby rear-facing as long as possible.

Here are some guidelines on switching:
  • Don’t make the switch to forward facing just because your baby’s feet are pushed against the car’s back seat.
  • Wait until he/ she has been sitting up for a minimum of three months, as this indicates he or she is better able physically to deal with the extra stresses of a collision in a front-facing seat.
  • Wait until your baby is closer to, or ideally at, the maximum weight for his or her rear-facing seat.
  • Children are undoubtedly safer rear facing for longer, so don’t see switching forward as a milestone – safety is the priority.

Part 2 to follow next week – how to choose a rear facing restraint?

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