Booster seats approved for use on aircraft?

[hipstamom]

My 6 year old is 56 lbs. and 49.5" tall. I looked at his booster seat and to my chagrin, it's not approved for aircraft use.

Is there any booster seats that is approved for planes/cars for a child his size? I tried checking the FAA and NHTSA sites for info but I'm getting more and more confuzzled. (Then again it's 1:50 am over here so that's possibly it!)

The upside is that my son has the window seat and he's excited about going on his first plane trip!

Thanks in advance,
Angelina

[Neatfreak]

I can think of combination harnessed/booster seats that are FAA approved, like the Graco Nautilus, but I'm pretty positive that they are only permitted when they are in harnessed mode, not booster mode. Airplanes are only outfitted with lap belts, and those aren't permitted with boosters.

Do you think that a CARES harness would be a good alternative for your son?

[bubbaray]

My 6 year old is 56 lbs. and 49.5" tall. I looked at his booster seat and to my chagrin, it's not approved for aircraft use.

Is there any booster seats that is approved for planes/cars for a child his size? I tried checking the FAA and NHTSA sites for info but I'm getting more and more confuzzled. (Then again it's 1:50 am over here so that's possibly it!)

The upside is that my son has the window seat and he's excited about going on his first plane trip!

Thanks in advance,
Angelina


There are no belt-positioning boosters that are FAA approved because (1) planes only have lap belts (and belt-positioning boosters require a lap-shoulder belt) and (2) plane seats are designed to fold in a crash, so using a booster would be a bad thing with the lap belt only.

There are some combination seats that are FAA approved for use ONLY in harnessed mode.

[hipstamom]

Thanks for the heads-up! Last night, my head began to hurt reading all of that.

Angelina

[hipstamom]

Thanks so much! I check out the Nautilus and it's FAA approved with the harness. According to the specs, my son can use it in harness mode.

Be well,
Angelina