I read that to take a car seat on a plane, the carriers ask that it is 16" or smaller. We have three car seats and none are 16" or smaller. Does anyone know anything about this or how this works? This will be the first time we are flying with our 18-month old when she has her own seat. Last summer she was a lap passenger when we flew. Any other recommendations?

I quickly checked several airline websites and didn't see a mention of the size for a car seat taken on board. Suggest you call your airline and ask them about it.

If you don't need the car seat when you arrive at your destination, consider purchasing a child's harness made especially for airplance seats. It straps them in just like their car seat but is a lot less bulky for you to carry. We used one with my 18-month nephew this winter and then rented a car seat with the car.

http://www.kidsflysafe.com/

Here is the website for the harness that we use. Even when we bring our carseat we just check it and use the harness on the plane. Love it!

This is the first I have heard of an official restriction. Is that new?

I flew with my child several times with a Britax Marathon. I don't know its size but its certainly on the larger side of car seats. Noone has ever mentioned car seat size to me before. (caveat: no flights in the last year with the car seat as he is now 3 and we all prefer to just check the car seat).

On that note, I would think the issue would be impact on other passengers rather than safety. Since my wife and I sit in a 3-seat row with the car seat, no other passenger has been impacted or would complain due to having their arm rest occupied or seat size greatly diminished.

Based on the advice from this site, we purchased the CARE harness(kidsflysafe.com referenced above) for my 2 1/2 yr old DD for our recent trip to bermuda. Prior to that, we had used the "sit n stroll" which is big and expensive, but convenient when we've needed a carseat on our trip. we didn't need one for bermuda,so the Care harness was perfect. It worked phenomenally and I'm so glad that I purchased it (thanks BKP - i think you had suggested it).

The way to know if you car seat is acceptable is to look for the label on the car seat that says it's certified for use in aircraft. It should be on the bottom or in the back (hidden from view). The size rule is to ensure that the car seat will fit in the plane seats.

Your other option has others have mentioned:
http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releas...fm?newsId=7381