[JPS911]

Ok, so for airplanes I guess it is sort of moot. If your car seat fits and you paid for a ticket (or happen to have an empty seat next to you), I guess you just strap it in as best you can given the only seat belt that is there...not like you can take it to get checked. On a side note, we did have ONLY ONE airline flight attendant tell us if our son was in his child seat, he had to be at the window (I can only assume in case of evacuation so his seat doesn't block our exit).

But for rental cars, what do people do? We are actually in rental cars or borrowed cars while traveling at least as much if not more than we are in our own car (we live in Manhattan and seldom drive, but do have a car). In fact, our 16 month old son has logged about 40,000 air miles.

Since most rentals are new, they likely have the LATCH system, but is that sufficient? I mean, it isn't like you can go get the seat inspected every time you stop by Avis...

Do people just do the best they can, or...?

	LATCH LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. It is a system mandated by the Federal government in an effort to standardize and simplify the installation of child restraints without using the vehicle's seat belt system. New vehicles and child safety seats manufactured on and after September 1, 2002 will be equipped with the LATCH system. Cars, minivans, and light trucks will be required to have anchor points between the vehicle's seat cushion and the seat back in at least two rear seating positions, and a top tether anchor (with the exception of convertibles). Child safety seats will have a lower set of attachments that fasten to the vehicle anchors. Most forward-facing child safety seats will also have a top strap (tether) that attaches to the top anchor in the vehicle.