On our trip we rode on a bunch of airplanes.  For those of you with families here is a review.  We love Bug’s car seat it’s a Graco Nautilus. It is FAA Approved and we like to take it on board our flights for several reasons:

1. It keeps Bug contained
2. If there is an empty seat we can put Monkey in it and we don’t have to hold him
3. We have it on the other end
4. We don’t have to worry about the luggage people losing it or damaging it. (If they damage your car seat the airline doesn’t take any responsibility.)

Our first flight back was on a Canadair Regional Jet from a Delta Connections carrier SkyWest. The car seat, while FAA approved, won’t fit in the bulkhead seats because of the wider arm rests (to accommodate the tray table). I think it would have fit in regular seats but they wouldn’t move us; instead we had to gate check the car seat. I felt like telling the flight attendant, “my seat is FAA Approved, is your airplane?”  It seems like one of the criteria for FAA Approval would be that it will fit in the seats.

Our second flight back was on an ERJ 145.  That is the loudest plane I have ever been on.  I couldn’t hear my wife unless she was screaming.  I guess that is somewhat good because I’m sure nobody could hear Bug or Monkey when they were screaming.