That seems the most sensible solution. Car seats are for cars - check it in with the rest of the luggage, they're only a nuisance on the flight. Moreover, since they're designed to work either with a 3-point seatbelt or a LATCH/ISOFIX system with a top tether, they can't possibly be installed correctly in an aircraft seat with only a lap belt.

If airlines really want people to use car seats on planes, they need to lobby ICAO to work with ISO to come up with an acceptable compromise between all the various national standards. It's nuts that on flights on identical aircraft between the same pair of destinations, it would be possible for a Canadian carrier to insist on a CSA/UL mark, while a British carrier insists on a CE/ISO/BS mark.

That's not gonna happen any time soon, so in the mean time keep the kids on your lap or in a regular seat.

Quite. For us, TATL travel is 4.5hrs E/B and 5.5 hrs WB & #1 daughter will be fine in a seat while #2 travels in parents arms/lap.

The CARES straps are very good and take up hardly any space at all. Easy to fit, stops them crawling out of the lap belt and you can slacken them off a bit mid-flight so they can stretch out a bit more. Also I think most of the major airlines allow these to be used. A car seat would take up quite a bit of shoulder room for the adult sitting next to the kid.

Why don't you join a forum for Yanks / Canucks in the UK and ask if anyone is selling one of their "homegrown" ones on there?

We flew to the UK from Toronto in february 20121with our then 11 month old son and we were originally thinking of taking the car seat for use when we got to the UK, but we were not planning on using it on the aircraft, simply as it would not be able to be installed properly, and I'm not fracking around with a bloody car seat on an aircraft.
He was going to sit on one of our laps, originally we had booked a two seat placing (as in the place where there are only two seats), alas they changed the aircraft type, so that went out the window, but we were lucky in that we managed to get three seats and we popped the little fella in the middle one and he was quite happy.

Same thing on the way from UK to Toronto.

Next flight, as he's 2+ will require his own seat, so he'll be strapped in there, and we shall see how he does Hopefully he'll just sleep.

Another vote for the CARES harness. I've used it a number of times without any problem from the airlines. The only question I had about it was one flight attendant who asked me to demonstrate how quickly it could be removed in an emergency. I did so and she was fine with it.

The only caveat to that I guess is that, in our family anyway, sometimes younger kiddos (under two) sleep better in their car seats than with the CARES. You know, a cushy padded car seat cover vs hard straight angled plane seat. But if you're looking for something that's easy to transport and that the airline will accept, the CARES might be the way to go.

Kudos to the people who did the lap baby thing, and long haul too, wow. We did one flight, one tiny 60 min one, with our son (16 months old) in my lap. He spent the whole time jumping up and down, trying to pat the head of the person seated in front of me, or trying to crawl up and down the aisle. That was after he spilled my entire glass of ginger ale in my lap. Buying a seat for any other flights didn't seem so terrible after that.

The bonus is the CARES can be used later on as well. We used it when our son was two years old and the harness kept him safely buckled in while he figured out the lap buckle on the plane seat in two seconds and would have been off running down the aisle otherwise.

Thank you all for your kind input. I think we have decided against the car seat, and have ordered the CARES harness. He's a very lively youngster but we have booked three seats and will put him in the middle. Fingers crossed!!

Having googled CARES harness, isn't the problem with it's use the fact that you need to disturb the person behind the infant by running the CARES belt around the seat and interfering with their tray table? Or am I missing something?

If it's been installed correctly, it doesn't affect them using their tray table. I've used it on multiple flights without any issues. Installing it, you drop their table, slip it over the seat, adjust, then put their table back up. They can use their tray table throughout the flight without any bother. It usually sits lower than where their table is, unless you have a really, really tall toddler.

I never heard anyone say, "Hey, that harness around your kid's seat to keep your kid safe bugs me, so remove it." They have free access to their table, so it's never been a problem.

Also, as people with little kids usually pre board, there's no disturbing anyone. We were the first ones on the plane and whoever sat behind our kid showed up when all the installing and adjusting was done.

Transat doesn't pre board parents and kids ... Only the upgrades .

Never flown Transat. Maybe that's a good thing.

Even still, it takes about two minutes to install, so it's not an inconvenience to anyone.

Ummm... yes they do.

http://www.airtransat.ca/en/Informat...ageur&tmpl=GEN

With the exception of flights to Florida, we are happy to offer preboarding for families travelling with young children

Huh ... Never seen it happen! Lol

our seat was uk, and they refused to let him take it on the plane. he was 18m but i paid for him to have a seat because i wanted him to be able to be strapped in and safe and sleep. subsequently he screamed almost the whole flight. bloody nightmare.

way back we had a canadian seat so they tried to take it off me and i waved their rules at them, i paid for the airline seat and it was not impinging on any other passengers, they had to let us on with it

while in uk i couldnt afford to replace it so when we flew back to canada they were surprised to see the canadian sticker on the back and had to allow it.

i raised the same query - how am i supposed to have a canadian seat when i come from england. they told me if you call them they do have a limited number you can book in advance. its another stupid rule there to make life harder for parents travelling with small kids.

I have.