Travelling on Cathay Pacific (bad experience!)

N

nanzbier

Registered User
I just flew from LAX-HKG two days ago. I had a "heated debate" with the stewardess on Cathay Pacific. My daughter is 2 years old and they said that she absolutely must sit in her own seat during take off and landing otherwise they cannot take off or land. I have no problem putting her in her own seat and if she cries she cries....but the problem is she can easily wiggle her way out of the seat because the seatbelt doesn't go that tight. So I can't really restrain her because she just wiggles out and wants to be held. I asked if I can hold her and put an infant seatbelt on her and they refused to saying that she was already over 2 years old. I asked what difference does it make as long as she can fit into the infant seatbelt...why not use it? It's better than her squirming out of her seat. IT seemed a bit ridiculous to me...I even asked for handcuffs to restrain her...but of course I was being sarcastic. During take off, I ended up ignoring them and put her in my lap. During landing, they allowed her to use the infant seatbelt. My question is, what would you do? How do you keep your child restrained in their own seat? It's not like a car seat where you can restrain them. Any ideas? I took Eva Airlines going over to LAX and they had no problems at all with me holding her.

Any input would be appreciated!
 
I would have done exactly what you did. Its not the age, but the size of the child that is important.
 
When we have a seat for the baby, we bring a car seat.
If we don't have a seat, we just hold him.
But he is under 2 years old. Something magical evidentially happens at 2 and I think he has to have a seat. But, like SimJo said, they should do it by weight and weight and not by age.
 
The air stewardess was trying to do her job, but the airlines just have not thought about 'live worms' sitting in their seats!

My 2 yr old daughter cannot sit still for more than 3 minutes. For this reason, we have bought a 'sit n stroll' airline seat that also becomes a pram so it great for use in airports. Have a look at www.sitnstroll.com, they are not very good looking, but are like a big comfy arm chair with a 5 point harness.

My daughter LOVES it, she sleeps really well in it and with the harness it means that she just cannot get out of the seatbelt. Weight limit is something like 16-18kg so we will be using it for a long time yet to come... Hope this helps!
 
Yes, CX is very strict with the rule that children over 2 have to sit in their seats and not very adults. Also had a similar experience when my daughter just turned 2. For take off and landing they insisted that she sit in her seat or in the stewardess' own words "the plane will have to circle and not land until my daughter sits in her own seat". Daughter was screaming her head off the whole time and I thought that the whole situation was ridiculous. Her crying triggered my 4 month old daughter to cry as well so on descent, the passengers were treated to my two children crying their lungs off. Of course, once we landed, we got dirty looks from the passengers but I blame it on the airline's strict policy. That plane journey was the worst one we had ever been on....
 
I had similar experience with CX. We flew few times, some crew ignored me (maybe pretending didnt see me) holding my daughter on my lap AFTER i showed them some effort putting her to the seat which didnt work. Then I tried to bring some special snacks that I only took out during take off and landing. It actually works. At least for the first 10 minutes she sits there chewing her food. It actually helps her ears too.
Giving the children presure to sit and restrain sit belt will actually makes them scared and then trying to break out.
 
hey turtle... that sit n strol sure looks gr8... thanx for that info.but isnt the stroller seat lower than the traditiona strolers.. imean when the baby is in it, is he not seated very low?
does it fold like other strollers for storage ease?
is it suitabe for new borns? does the seat recline fully?
 
I had the same concerns as we flew when my son was just three. He did sit still, but the seat belt is so riduculously loose that there is no way he would ever stay in the belt in a crash. Does anyone have info on those airline flight vests and what carriers allow their use. Our car seat is too wide to fit in the airplane seat.
 
She was just doing her job.
I've found that they will insist on following the rules unless it's obvious it won't work for your child.
If the hostie won't listen to reason, (on any airline) ask to see the Iinflight services manager, unless she is a complete cow, she will accept sensible reasoning from a parent, and will usually be a parent who has had to go through it.

This week I flew CX to Sydney, and although I was lucky to have 2 empty seats beside me, my 11mth old kept trying to fling himself on the floor in his sleep, so the option was to hold him allnight, or ask them to allow me to put a bassinet on the seat.
The bulkhead seats were all taken.
He is technically too old for the bassinet, and it is totally against the rules to use one unsecured, but they could see the onlly other option was to let him fling himself on the floor.

It came down to the ISM taking responsibility if anything went wrong.
 
thanks for all your replies. i've decided to never take cathay again. not only because of this experience but because i think they have gone downhill. for the price, their airplanes are extremely old and the bathroom doors were held together by electrical tape. i will stick with eva airlines. unfortunately, i still need to fly back on cathay for a return trip. does anyone know if a regular car seat will fit onto a economy seat on cathay? otherwise, i may need to look into purchasing the sit and stroll. i actually dont mind her crying in her own seat...just that she will wiggle out in a split second. =) i think safety comes first.
 
Hi ALL;

I would HIGHLY recommend the Sit 'n Stroll. You can order them direct from the company at http://www.strolex.com/indexss.html ... I don't think anyone sells them in Hong Kong. I have seen a mom of twins selling 2 though on http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com.

I would not travel without the Sit 'n Stroll. I realize all “our little” ones are different, but I find that if I wheel my daughter on the plane in the Sit 'n Stroll and strap her right into the seat she is happy to sit there for short (1 to 3 hour) flights. I think it just doesn't enter her brain as a possibility she can get out. I only take her out to go to the bathroom for a nappy change. She also sleeps in it great. On longer flights home (10 hour +), we of course have to take her out, but we try to keep her in it as much of the time as we can. I usually have to hold her while she falls asleep, but once she is down she goes right into the seat and sleeps comfortably.

It also makes me feel better when we hit turbulence that she is safely strapped in. I have read several FAA report that basically says if you hit server turbulence there is no way you can hold your child. I was also told by the flight crew on Thai Airways in March that they no longer use infant seat belts that connect into the adult one because it increases the risk of you crushing your child and it is safer to hold them. I didn’t really want to think about it, but I assume they are saying that in a crash it is safer for your baby to fly out of your arms than be crushed by your weight.

The US actually wanted to require children to be in car seats by law or CRS (Child Restraint Systems) as the report calls it. The only reason they have not made it law is because they realize if they required parents to buy a seat for their child many families will not be able to afford to fly and will drive instead. Since there is a higher chance of being in a fatal car accident this would actually put the child at greater risk.

In the US you can also use the Sit 'n Stroll as a car seat once you arrive which is also GREAT. But I do know that my Aussie friends can't due to different regulations ... I guess the Sit 'n Stroll has never petitioned for approval in Australia. I also use it in Hong Kong in taxis.

A few flight crew have questioned the seat, but all you have to do is show them the FAA approval on the side and then they leave you alone. In economy you also have to lift the arm rest up to get the Sit 'n Stroll in the seat and then put it down. Depending on the seat belts you also sometimes have to ask for an extension.

When you use the Sit 'n Stroll as a pram, your child does sit low but it is no problem ... you just have to watch people with their luggage!

One website I also like for its info is http://www.thecarseatlady.com. They have a lot of info about flying and recommend many products at http://www.thecarseatlady.com/airplanes/airplanes_7.html ... including products that allow you to use your car seat more easily on planes.

Well I hope this helps a bit …. unfortunately, flying with small children is never that fun ;)
 
I think that the flight attendant did the right thing - try to enforce the rules they are required to follow unless it becomes impractical/dangerous. I think that the fact that they insist on following safety procedures is a good thing. I have always found Cathay to be the best airline by far ! Try arguing your case with a Qantas flight attendant, ha ha.
 
I have used a regular car seat on Cathay. Seem to remember it being a bit of a squeeze so if you are travelling with another adult get them to go on first when they allow families with young kids to board then you go on later when they have had a chance to install the seat.
 
I dont think it is available in HK, But babies r us in US has them. We saw a similar incident last year on a CX Flight. The flight attendant was insisting alot for the child to sit but he refused finally the attendant told the mother that it is her responsibility of something was to happend to the child. It is just procedure because the FA has to inform the chief purser about it. They tell all passengers that theyc annot take off or land but that is just to make sure everyone is seated.
 
that sounds horrible. we flew UA business from Vancouver a while ago and they were super flex, i was surprised. we bought upgrades so my daughter (just under 2) did not have a seat. i tried to hold her during take off and landing but sometimes, she won't even be held. and would just play on the floor, it is dangerous but i didn't hear a peep from any of the air hostess. i'm a big cathay fan, so good to hear these stories, it's worth considering before buying plane tix.
 
Kellyst - I actually find your post really shocking. I can't believe they allowed a child to sit on the floor during takeoff or landing. It is just sooooooo dangerous ! If that is their attitude to safety, I would not fly with them.
 
my friend used to be a stewardess on singapore airlines and told me that they even allowed 4-5 year olds on mother/father's lap and even provided an attached seatbelt. she thought cathay pacific's regulations unheard of....i've been flying with eva for 4-5 years and have never had a problem.
 
karishmaviral said:
hey turtle... that sit n strol sure looks gr8... thanx for that info.but isnt the stroller seat lower than the traditiona strolers.. imean when the baby is in it, is he not seated very low?
does it fold like other strollers for storage ease?
is it suitabe for new borns? does the seat recline fully?
Click to expand...

It is very low when they are sitting in it as a pram but it is still manageable, you just have to stoop a little lower. I only use in airports and for use inside the aircraft and have never felt it was too low. It doesn't fold up, the wheels fold up underneath it but the seat stays the same shape, just like a car seat. no, it does not recline at all but I recline the airline seat and it goes with it, so she is slightly reclined. It comes with a neck support, but the baby would need to be able to sit up first I think - check out the website www.sitnstroll.com for more info.

Hope this helps! I bought mine second hand from Asia Expat but I believe they can be ordered from the US. I would NEVER travel without it!
 
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