Airplane travel with a toddler (and careseat)

[disneymoon0606]

We'll be heading to Orlando in just under three weeks and have bought our daughter (20 months old) her own seat on the plane. The plan is to have her sit in her carseat (a Britax Marathon) for most of the ride. We really didn't want a wiggly toddler on our laps the entire trip.

I'm curious if anyone else has done this. We'll be flying Delta/Northwest, and I'm wondering if she'll be allowed to get out of her seat occasionally (to stretch, for a diaper change, etc.), or if she will have to stay in her carseat. Or, if she's really having a hard time, will we be able to take out her carseat, or at least have her sit on our laps?

I'm also looking for other tips for airplan travel with a toddler. I've heard lots of great things about playing with stickers, but she HATES stickers! So we'll need some other distraction ideas

Thanks everyone!

 

[cam&phoebsmom]

We flew with my DD when she was 21 months old on our last trip. We did not use her carseat on the plane as we knew we would not be doing any driving and used the WDW bus service the whole time. She was fine with just the seat belt (we have the same carseat but I wa snot sure if it was airline compliant). She had her own seat and we just buckled her in.

Our DD liked the "big girl" feeling. Here are some things we used on the trip:

*fruit snacks for take-off and landing to keep her chewing
*stickers! She loved putting stickers on things-I had her decorate the Mousekeeping envelopes
*I had a little bag with Disney characters I had gotten at the $ store. She spent at least 30 minutes moving them one by one from the satin bag I had brought and the air sickness bag from the seat
edited-I just saw your note about stickers-too funny! How about little pre-inked stamps? I saw some cute cheap sets at the $ store that were Disney themed
*coloring books and crayons-we got new ones she had not seen before
*I had some music loaded on my iPod for her
*magnadoodle

Another thing to do is to wrap the new things for the plane. It was exciting handing her something *new* and the unwrapping added some time to it.

We are driving this time so our 2 hour trip turns into a 14 hour trip-YIKES!

eta:
as long as there was no seat fastened sign she was able to walk around like any other passenger-there just was not a lot of room. Our flight down was PACKED but on the way back she and my DH had their own aisle and she was able to lay down on the seat and sleep. I will say diaper changes would have been TIGHT in the bathroom so I made sure she had a fresh dry diaper right before we loaded.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

If you are loading the plane, and looking towards the seats, and it's a Boeing 737 - sit on the left side. Request a seatbelt extender from the airline staff to install the carset. Adjust the extender to about half it's length. Attach it to the left side of the seatbelt and feed it through the back of the carseat. It will be easier to feed this through than using just a seatbelt. You must (by law) install the carseat on the window seat! (SO if you try to sit on the right hand side of plane - you'll be trying to hook the seatbelt next to the wall of the plane, which is really difficult - or trying to change seats.)

I don't recall which carseat is which - but I think the Marathon is the heavier of the Brittax carseats. It will carry the child for longer (until they are older) , but if I recall correctly, it is also rather heavy. Brittax makes several carseat models that might be appropriate for your child - and also get excellent safety ratings. I don't recall which is which - but if the child is in the lower end of the carseat weight class - the carseats meant for smaller toddlers weight quite a bit less. Again, you may hvae the one that is lighter - I don't recall which model is which. Carrying a heavy carseat aroudn a large airport like MCO is quite a challenge.


If you will have to carry the carseat around the airport,consider investing a in a carseat bag. I can't tell you brands - but my sister has one that has straps, so you can carry the carseat inside the bag like a hiker's backpack. The bag also has wheels, so we were able to hang it off other luggage or even a stroller and wheel it through the airport. A bit akwards, but much easier than carrying an open carseat with straps dangling and getting dirty in the airport.

 

[DebbieB]

They are flying Delta/NW, so they will have assigned seats.

The child is under 2 so there is no requirement to keep her in the seat even during takeoff and landing.

 

[Deesknee]

We've always used a car seat when flying. I just prefer it. I think for my kids it was a comfort zone. We also found wrapping special surprises for the flight extrememly helpful. We would tell them once the flight was way up in the air they could have their backpacks to look to see if there is a surprise...if they were well behaved. They were packed in there own back packs (yes even at < 2yrs). Our adult children still ask if we are going to pack them flight surprises! Just don't forget a wrapped surprise for the return flight as well. We have flown Delta, SW, and jetblue with carseats. None of which have been anything other than helpful with the carseats. (At one point we were using 3 carseats) We would use a luggage carrier to wheel down the carseats. We have taken the children out of the carseats to go to the bathroom.
Trying to remember back to when my kids were about 1 1/2 - 2yrs, some of the surprises we've packed are:
fanny packs, colorforms,crayons,etch sketch, a polly pockey type of item (disney themed & age appropriate.), beanie babies, even a new cup. REMEMBER though, security, security,security. It would be a shame to have a "surprise" thrown out due to security regulations.

have fun.

 

[Tara]

Just a tip - before you buckle the airplane seatbelt, turn the buckle OVER. Why? The seatbelt is designed to unfasten by lifting the buckle. In the normal orientation used as a lap belt, that means the buckle is facing up. When installing a car seat, however, the buckle is BEHIND the car seat and therefore the top of the buckle faces the back of the car seat. Once you tighten the seatbelt, the buckle will it snugly against the back of the car seat and will be virtually impossible to unbuckle! If you flip the buckle over before fastening, the lift flap of the buckle will be facing away from the seat, giving you some room to operate the buckle when it's time to deplane.

 

[momhmmx2]

You will be so happy to have purchased your daughter her own seat..Kuddos to you to think of safety first

I too used a Britax when my kids were little..I would recommend a luggage carrier for getting around the airport..Those metal collapsible contraptions that have wheels and bungey cords for securing your items. It will fold up to fit in the overhead compartment which makes it easy.

I love the tip to use a seatbelt extender! I wish I had thought about that one!

Have a fabulous trip

 

[puffkin]

The one and only flight we used a carseat we had a Britax Marathon. DS was 17 months and he spent the entire flight kicking the seat in front of him. There just really isn't much room between the rows on a plan and the seat put him at the perfect height to kick, kick, kick. Even when he wasn't trying to kick and just moving around he was bumping the seat. Honestly it was horrible.....we felt awful for the young couple in front of us and we tried everythign to get him to stop. It was just too tight a fit. The carseat was checked on the return flight and he did much better with just the seat belt.

We will not fly with a carseat anymore after that....we always check it.

 

[disneymoon0606]

Thanks for all the great tips!

That's an interesting thought, pp, about kicking the seat. We also have a Cosco Scenera we could bring instead. Maybe since it's smaller she won't be able to kick the seat as much? Hmmm, I'll have to do some measuring.

Those of you who have suggested wrapping random gifts to keep her occupied, do you happen to know if wrapped gifts are allowed by security? I seem to recall hearing they're not, but I guess I could just put them in little cloth bags not sealed or something like that.

 

[jaurban]

Take the shoes off the child and then have them in the car seat - much less of a push on the seat back if they can reach it. Also, do not think you can have wrapped gifts through security - but if loosely wrapped and in the carry on, it may be ok since if they look they (or you) can re-wrap.

 

[disneymoon0606]

Hey, I was just thinking. Could I have her carseat rear-facing on the plane? That would seem to solve the seat kicking issue, right?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I don't think you can have it rear facing.

If you want an alternative to wrapping random gifts....consider a Happy Mmeal if your airport has Mc D's or any other kind of kid's meals that come with a toy. I'mno0t abig fan of fast food in general, but I think that's one time an exception can be made. And you can always share the food. Some of the places that offer toys now have some pretty good alternatives. I personally like Chik-fil-A - and there is one in the Orlando airport (MCO), if not your home airport. You can get fruit in place of the french fries there! Even McD's will let you have apple juice, milk,or orange juice for the meal beverage.

But you don't have to have fully gift wrapped toys. Any little toy or coloring book that is 'new' is great.

Another simple toy that is great for small kids: a magnetic drawing board. I think they are called Doodle Pro, and sell for about $10. There may be multiple brands. After they get bored drawing, you can work on letters or numbers, words, simple math, pictionary-type game.

 

[Hannathy]

If you do put it rear facing Make sure your DH or someone in your party offers to sit or book it so someone in your party is sitting in front of the child. Because that person will not be able to recline their seat at alll and it is rude to do that to a stranger.

Easier to put it forward facing , remove shoes and be very vigilant about the kicking, warn the heck out of the child and watch very closely.

 

[gigi1313]

Thanks for all the great tips!

That's an interesting thought, pp, about kicking the seat. We also have a Cosco Scenera we could bring instead. Maybe since it's smaller she won't be able to kick the seat as much? Hmmm, I'll have to do some measuring.

Those of you who have suggested wrapping random gifts to keep her occupied, do you happen to know if wrapped gifts are allowed by security? I seem to recall hearing they're not, but I guess I could just put them in little cloth bags not sealed or something like that.

funny you should mention the scenera... i actually bought one just for our last plane trip (ds was 18mos) because the marathon just seemed too big/heavy/bulky/pita to drag thru the airlines and it was awesome! i recommend it over the marathon!

 

[disneyfan97]

Thanks for all the great tips!

That's an interesting thought, pp, about kicking the seat. We also have a Cosco Scenera we could bring instead. Maybe since it's smaller she won't be able to kick the seat as much? Hmmm, I'll have to do some measuring.

Those of you who have suggested wrapping random gifts to keep her occupied, do you happen to know if wrapped gifts are allowed by security? I seem to recall hearing they're not, but I guess I could just put them in little cloth bags not sealed or something like that.

We've flown with a Costco Scenera many times, and unfortunately you will likely have the same "kicking the seat" issue....depending on the height of your kid and the length of their legs. The scenera is not that much smaller - though it certainly is lighter and easier to carry through the airport.

After borrowing it 3 times from a friend, we recently bought a CARES harness. I highly recommend this for a toddler. Our biggest problem with DS sitting in the seat like a "big boy" is that our big boy figured out really quickly how to unbuckle the seatbelt, and after that he didn't want to sit any more.

Personally, I'd go with the Scenera over the Britax - if those are your choices. At least it'll be easier to carry through the airport.

 

[NHdisneylover]

If you do put it rear facing Make sure your DH or someone in your party offers to sit or book it so someone in your party is sitting in front of the child. Because that person will not be able to recline their seat at alll and it is rude to do that to a stranger.

Easier to put it forward facing , remove shoes and be very vigilant about the kicking, warn the heck out of the child and watch very closely.

Actually, I was comming to recommend booking someone from the OPs party into the seat in front of the child anyway. That way he is kicking Mommy or Daddy's back and not some stranger's. Even with older kids who are pretty good travellers and don't kick, I know they tend to open their tray tables a little more than an adult and reach under the seat (possibly bumping it but trying not to) to retreive a new activity, etc. so we still try to book 2 and 2 and put the adults in front of the kids. That way, I know IF they jiggle the seat a bit by accident they are only jiggling me