Child Seat on Virgin

[brizzle]

Last time we flew with BA who let us strap our car seat into the plane seat. This enabled our litle one to feel safe and was quite happy to sit in it for the journey.
When we checked with Virgin they say they don;t allow car seats but have their own we have to use.

To anyone who has travelled with Virgin recently and had a car seat is this true? And if it is, what are their seats like?

Thanks,

Brizzle

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by brizzle
Last time we flew with BA who let us strap our car seat into the plane seat. This enabled our litle one to feel safe and was quite happy to sit in it for the journey.
When we checked with Virgin they say they don;t allow car seats but have their own we have to use.

To anyone who has travelled with Virgin recently and had a car seat is this true? And if it is, what are their seats like?

Thanks,

Brizzle
[/quote]

Can I just ask how old was the baby?

Did the baby sit in the seat for take off and landing?

I have recently flown BA and used the so called car seat which was totally useless so I imagine Virgin would use a similar seat.

Julie R

[disney dreamin]

We have seen people get onto a Virgin plane with a child seat but not allowed to use it. For very young children who are sitting on parents laps there is a second seat belt for them that straps to the parents seat belt. These people usually sit at the bulhead and get a sky cot to use during the journey. For children who have their own seat they are expected to sit in that.

We have travelled with a little one since she was 2 years old, she has always had her own seat and she has been more than happy to sit there for 10 hours (unbelievable I know). We always try and get her a window seat so she can look out but it also means that when she is getting up and down it is only mum or dad that gets knocked about abit.

Overall I can not fault the way Virgin look after the children with food, entertainment, flight bag, TV programmes etc

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by disney dreamin
We have seen people get onto a Virgin plane with a child seat but not allowed to use it. For very young children who are sitting on parents laps there is a second seat belt for them that straps to the parents seat belt. These people usually sit at the bulhead and get a sky cot to use during the journey. For children who have their own seat they are expected to sit in that.

We have travelled with a little one since she was 2 years old, she has always had her own seat and she has been more than happy to sit there for 10 hours (unbelievable I know). We always try and get her a window seat so she can look out but it also means that when she is getting up and down it is only mum or dad that gets knocked about abit.

Overall I can not fault the way Virgin look after the children with food,
entertainment, flight bag, TV programmes etc
[/quote]

One good reason to always fly with a UK airline as US airlines do not have the same laws regarding under two's (infants) they do not use a lap belt or any other kind of restraint! I flew with Laker in 1997 when they briefly relaunched under US licence and they had no lap belts, can you imagine what would happen to a baby if anything dire happened, no mother could hold a baby going through the G force of an impact.

However there are some US car seats that the FAA approve for airtravel but you have to buy an extra seat to use it.

Virgin and BA now offer their own type of "car seat" for older infants, it fixes to the bulk head like the skycots, however my baby would not even sit in it as it seemed really uncomfortable. Its all down to weight = costs at the end of the day.

Happy flying!

Julie R

[Claire M]

Hi

We flew with Virgin and had the child seat. It is similar to a car seat which is strapped in by the lap belt. You then have a 5 point harness which the child is strapped into. We have also flown BA and out of the two I would rate Virgins seat higher.

Claire

[brizzle]

The child will be 20 months this time, she was about 15 months when we went in December.
We bought her her own seat and she was allowed to remain in her seat during take-off and landing.

Virgin have said we *have* to use their seat. By the sounds of it I have no worries.

Brizzle

[Claire M]

Brizzle

I forgot to add, that your daughter will be able to take off and land in this seat aswell. With BA I had to take him out of the seat to take off and land. He was 2 at the time so it took him approximately 2 seconds to work out how to undo the lap belt. I had to pin him down in the end as he was trying to get out. [msnmad]

Claire

[pieman6]

We are flying with American airlines in May 2004. We have paid for a seat for our 1 year daughter as we cant bear the thought of having her on our laps for 10 hours (We fly from Mancheater to Boston, Boston to orlando). We intend to take her car seat on board the plane. Does anybody know if American Airlines will allow this or not? The car seat has being used by our old son on a Boeing 757 when we flew to Greece 4 years ago so i know the car seat fits the plane seat. Thanks in advance for any replies

[Nigel W]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Claire M
Brizzle

I forgot to add, that your daughter will be able to take off and land in this seat aswell. With BA I had to take him out of the seat to take off and land. He was 2 at the time so it took him approximately 2 seconds to work out how to undo the lap belt. I had to pin him down in the end as he was trying to get out. [msnmad]

Claire
[/quote]

It can be just a bad when you have to pick them up while they are asleep to put them on our lap.