This was years ago.

For the first leg, no issues. Car seat attached well to the seatbelts and our child was happy to be in her seat.

We shifted to the international flight and were promptly told that while the car seat may have been approved by the FAA, it was not approved by the country we were headed to - and where the airline originated from. The flight attendant ended up talking to the pilot, who told her that he thought our kid would probably be happier/more comfortable in the car seat and that he would allow us to use it. So we did.

I think it would've been miserable if we would've had to have her on our laps for that long flight. And I would've been pretty upset at purchasing a ticket that went unused because the kid was on our lap.

In the end - it really did work best for us to have the car seat. But we are talking about a 1 year-old in a seat facing forward, so it didn't interfere with anyone reclining.