3 hour flight with 15 month old to Orlando - car seat or on lap for the flight?

[MichiMomma]

While traveling with car seats was more of a hassle than going without, we always flew with our two children in car seats. We bought some more lightweight affordable seats for air travel. Make sure they’re FAA approved for use on an airplane. It will say somewhere on the seat. For us it was worth the hassle knowing if we hit turbulence or had a rare hard landing that our kids would be more safely restrained in their car seats.

 

[SirDuff]

Slightly off topic (but still related): I flew Turkish Airlines earlier this week. Their safety video talked about (and showed) something called a "loop belt." From the video, it looked like a little loop that would attach to an adult's seatbelt to have a little belt for a lap child. I fly quite a bit (and have with several different airlines) and had never seen/heard of that before. I'm sure it's not perfect, but I thought it was a great way to keep lap children a little bit safer.

These are illegal on Canadian and American airlines (and maybe other airlines flying to/from these countries). But required in some other countries.

One argument (made by countries that ban them) is that it essentially turns your lap child into your airbag.

The other argument (made by countries that require them) follows your thinking, that it keeps the lap child safer since you don't rely on your grip.

I haven't done research to have an opinion on which argument is the "right" one.

 

[Flossbolna]

These are illegal on Canadian and American airlines (and maybe other airlines flying to/from these countries). But required in some other countries.

One argument (made by countries that ban them) is that it essentially turns your lap child into your airbag.

The other argument (made by countries that require them) follows your thinking, that it keeps the lap child safer since you don't rely on your grip.

I haven't done research to have an opinion on which argument is the "right" one.

I think it comes down to:

Loop belt: prevents the baby from flying around in airplane and endangering others

Against loop belt: baby has a slightly better chance to survive.

Ultimately being a lap baby is highly dangerous for baby and really should not be done despite the cost savings.

 

[danceintherain]

I've done both, and vastly prefer having a seat for my child.

 

[clh2]

We just did a trip to Disney last month with our daughter and her family. It was a royal pain to haul the car seats and install them on the plain; and install them in our car service vehicle 3 times (MCO to Disney resort to Port Canaveral to MCO).

But, on the plane-it was awesome for the kiddos (2 and 4 years old) as well as their parents.

 

[RedHead0186]

These are illegal on Canadian and American airlines (and maybe other airlines flying to/from these countries). But required in some other countries.

One argument (made by countries that ban them) is that it essentially turns your lap child into your airbag.

The other argument (made by countries that require them) follows your thinking, that it keeps the lap child safer since you don't rely on your grip.

I haven't done research to have an opinion on which argument is the "right" one.

Oh interesting. Guess that explains why I haven't seen that before!

 

[jwalk03]

Plus if anything goes wrong, the kid has their own oxygen mask.

The kid would have its own oxygen mask even without a seat. There is always an extra one. So if the row is 3 seats there are 4 oxygen masks.

 

[mmouse37]

We have done both when traveling with our adult kids and grandkids. One time we had 2 car seats for a 1 year old and a 2 year old. We were allowed to board early and we installed the car seats before other people were boarding. My DIL and myself brought the car seats onboard while my son and husband kept all 3 kids in the terminal. Once the car seats were installed they boarded with the kids and we buckled them in.....and was much easier than all boarding together and trying to keep 3 kids out of the aisle while installing the seats.

Another time we flew with our daughter's family without car seats but had bought a seat for our 2 year old grandson. He did great in the seat and spent some time on our daughter's lap but he fell asleep in his own seat for most of the flight.

MJ

 

[Donna M]

We flew with our daughter and two grandkids with their car seats. One thing that made it easier was having a double stroller all the way to the gate. It held one car seat and younger child and all the other stuff, it was the pack mule, while the other car seat was strapped to a carry on piece of luggage. We also sent in two adults to deal with buckling in the seats while the other adult supervised the kids. The kids are very comfortable in their seats and know when they're in them they stay in them. All went well.

 

[OlliePop27]

Agree. We've had some recent flights with pretty bad turbulence - nothing so bad that it makes the news or anything, but bad enough that people on board were letting out gasps and screams and praying out loud. We've also had some recent rough landings, including one where they told us we were being put on a shorter runway than normal and to expect very aggressive braking (and it sure was!). I wouldn't risk injuries to my child, and I'm always a little annoyed when I see others do it ... they're not only risking their own kid, they're risking others that may be hit by a flying child. Personally I think airlines should stop allowing lap holding. We had a few years of dragging 2 car seats through airports. It sucks, but it's possible. And it's a lot safer and more comfortable.

Seriously, you're annoyed when OTHER people choose to do something that's allowed and within the rules of the FAA, the DOT, and airlines?

I'm not an advocate for holding a child on a lap for a flight and actually agree with all of the comments recommending a car seat.

In general, I just wish people would focus more on trying to be respectful and considerate people themselves, while judging other people less. Everyone walks around judging each other - what's the fun in that? You're judging people who then judge you right back. Weird way to live life.

 

[jimmymc]

Always car seat IMO, for their comfort and safety and your sanity.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Buy your kid a seat on the plane and use a car seat - every time. Quick story;
We have ALWAYS bought our kids a seat on the plane and have them in the car seat for the duration as much as possible. One time we were travelling with our first kid on a trip with a couple of connections so it had been a long day. We were lucky enough to have a bulkhead row and it was a calm flight weather-wise so we let him get out of the seat and just move around in the row we were in. We were nearing LAX so we got him back in the seat. All of the sudden the plane dove several hundred feet, throwing the airline steward hard enough to break a couple of ribs. The pilot came on and told us we had hit the jet wake from a larger aircraft causing the dive. "Fairly common" were his words, but small consolation to the airline steward with the broken ribs - and a huge wake up call to us.

Always have your seatbelt on, and that includes your kid no matter the age, and that includes a car seat if they are young enough. There is no such thing as a turbulence-free flight.