Car seat on airplane????

[bunny213]

We're buying a seat for my son (almost 2) ... do we take the carseat on the airplane and buckle him in that on the airplane seat? or do we check it and make him sit in the seat buckled in like a "big person"? Thanks... Mandy

 

[juligrl]

Whatever you opt to do, make sure your carseat has an FAA approved sticker on it.

Back to your question - as fas as I know it's not a requirement to have your child fly in a carseat (I could be wrong though).

We did take our DDs carseat and she was almost 3 at the time. We just figured it would be more familiar to her if she was nervous and if she got a case of the wiggles, she'd be confined in her carseat so it would be okay.

I don't know that airlines have any specific regulations on that though.

 

[tanyaandallie]

I've done both. Your little one is safer in a car seat on the airplane. We are taking the car seat for my ds this time. He is 2 and very busy. I think we will all be happier with him strapped in his seat.

 

[toesmom]

Flight attendant checked that it was not expired, and we had to buckle in on window seat. It was not easy to buckle in properly and getting it out was a lot of fun, let's just say my wrist was very sore.


However, my ds sat through the flight (just under 3 hours) and we had no issues. If he was in big seat, things would have been entirely different.

So, if you have the choice, use the car seat. I would also recommend asking for bulkhead seating because they tend to kick their feet which might disturb the people in front of you. If you can't get bulkhead, just warn the people ahead of you. Better he is seated comfortably in familiar car seat , than forcing him to sit in big airplane seat. Turbulence can happen at any time, so better to be safe.

a portable dvd player with barney or teletubbies also helps!!

 

[tjmw2727]

We used a carseat until my dd's were in the 4ish range. In addition to the safety issue we found them to be more comfortable as they were familiar with the seat. Once I could count on them to stay seated and keep the seat belt fastened we stopped taking the seat.

Be sure that your carseat has a sticker indicating it is "approved for use in aircraft".

To help with the issue of the buckle - turn it around and buckle it backward, this makes it easier to buckle and much easier to unbuckle. If you can recline the seat that helps as well.

For seat kicking we removed shoes and sat an adult in our party in front of the carseat, usually dh!

TJ

 

[WDW4TheGirls]

We have used car seats and it's great because my girls fell asleep for most of the flights while in their seats. But make sure your seats are not in an exit row OR one row in front of or behind an exit row. Car seats are not allowed in these rows, as we learned the hard way on one flight and had to convince an entire row to switch with us!

 

[jessica52877]

I am all for taking it! I wouldn't buckle my kid in a car in a normal seat belt so I never understood the being allowed to do it on a plane. That being said though, the best part is, it is safer! It is easier on mom and child. Kid is used to it and know he/she must stay put. Mine usually sleeps the entire way! Never had a kicking issue, we don't kick in car, we don't kick on the plane. Have fun!

 

[stacylm]

We took our DD(5) carseat on plane when she was 2. She fell asleep mid-flight which was great. Until she woke-up vomiting . Believe me it was not fun trying to clean her and a carseat up on a plane. On the way home the seat was gate checked. when we fly to WDW this friday we will leave our youngest DD(2) carseat in the car at the airport.

 

[Hannathy]

If you can't get bulkhead, just warn the people ahead of you.

a portable dvd player with barney or teletubbies also helps!!

NO don't just warn the people in front of you DO NOT let them do it. If you can't control your child then do as the other poster said and sit one person in front of the child! If you take a DVD player take earphones, especially with the teletubbies. I always avoided the bulkhead becasue you can not keep any bags down with you they have to go overhead and if you need something you have to stand up and if the seatbelt sign is on.....you can't get anything.

We never took a car seat for either child in probably 100 flights. never had a problem and they sat with the seatbelt just fine. It is nice then you can put the tray down for them to play on. If you aren't renting a car you won't need it at Disney.

 

[dhardawa]

You most definitely want to use your seat. He is much safer in his seat if you hit turbulence, have to make an emergency landing, etc. You also don't want to check your car seat. I have heard way too many horror stories about destroyed seats. If it is with you, they can't drive over it with the luggage cart (I have seen this happen myself).

 

[Addicted2TheMouse]

My DS was almost 2 and a half when we went in February. I seriously considered bringing his seat because I thought he would be better behaved sitting in there than he would be with the freedom of sitting with just the seatbelt. But we were travelling by ourselves and I decided against the carseat because I had enough stuff to drag through the airport as it was.

It turned out really well. I just told him the everyone has to stay buckled and he never gave me a problem at all. He actually slept for the majority of the time.

Double check though because something tells me that a child under the age of 2 who has his own seat would need a carseat. The only reason I think that is because when I had DS all buckled in and the flight attendants were doing their checks, one stopped and asked how old he was. I said 2 and she said "Ok, good". I just assumed that if he was under 2, she was going to tell me to hold him on my lap for takeoff.

 

[all4fun]

We're buying a seat for my son (almost 2) ... do we take the carseat on the airplane and buckle him in that on the airplane seat? or do we check it and make him sit in the seat buckled in like a "big person"? Thanks... Mandy

The FAA recommends children under 40lbs use a car seat on the plane (or under 44lbs if using a CARES harness)

FAA Child Safety on Airplanes
http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/

The FAA strongly urges parents and guardians to secure children in an appropriate restraint based on weight and size. Keeping a child in a CRS or device during the flight is the smart and right thing to do.

I'm all for bringing the car seat on board the plane. As others have mentioned, if you check it, it will be treated just like luggage, which is not good. Also, airplane seatbelts are extremely easy to undo and I always wondered if I would spend 4-6 hours each way fussing w/ds over keeping his seatbelt on (as many flights we've been on the seatbelt light has been on for the majority of the flight). And for sure, airplane travel is much safer than car travel so he probably would have been "safe" w/out it, but having him in his car seat also gave me a little extra piece of mind, especially when we were experiencing rough turbulence a few times. So to me, the pros outweighed the cons.

 

[October]

I will always travel with a carseat while my DC is less than 40 lbs/4 years. The FAA strongly recommends it for safety. No matter how safe air travel is, should we ever experience difficulty during a flight or takeoff/landing, I would want to know that I did everything in my power to keep my DC safe. I recently viewed a clip that only made my view stronger.
I posted the link to it below:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rC4Q3ofz7SI

 

[Hannathy]

That accident is 20 years ago!! they DO NOT do that anymore.

 

[October]

Had the toddler been in a carseat it would have had a much better chance of survival. If the child was on the parents lap it would have acted as an airbag or possibly gone flying out of her hands, not a much safer option. The baby being put on the floor was not my point, it's the fact that the baby wasn't properly restained.

 

[HelenePA]

OMG I'd NEVER hold my child on the floor!! Are they crazy?? what are they gonna do throw me off the plane?? I know one of you said they dont do that any more... but Holy cow!!!!!!!!!!

And I'm still debating on taking my car seat or not... another problem is my 4 yr old (almost 5) is only 36 pounds.. I am NOT taking 2 cars seats

 

[all4fun]

And I'm still debating on taking my car seat or not... another problem is my 4 yr old (almost 5) is only 36 pounds.. I am NOT taking 2 cars seats

We are actually going to forgo the car seat for our just turned 4yr old on this next trip. We're using DME and Disney Transport so we won't need the car seat on the ground anyway. He is about 34-35lbs now. My concern before was his maturity and not being contained well enough by the airplane lap belt (too easy to undo). Now that he's older he can be reasoned with more so I'm hoping that he will do ok w/out the car seat this time. Or we just might end up regretting it when he decides he doesn't want to stay seated and wants to run up and down the airplane aisle instead. We'll see...

 

[Diz Kids]

If you are worried about safety but don't feel like lugging your car seat you may want to check out the CARES restraint (kidsflysafe.com). It is made of the same material as an airplane seatbelt, but turns it into a harness similar to that in the carseat, except there is still no strap between the legs. We have used this on our last two trips with DS (2.5) since we were using DME and didn't need a car seat once we arrrived. The downsides are 1) it is expensive, especially if you don't plan on flying much and 2) the airplane seat is not nearly as comfortable/familiar as a car seat. DS didn't sleep on the plane, although I think he might have if he had been in his car seat.

 

[yrdlyprincess]

My DD7 (will have just turned) DS3(will have just turned) I would NEVER have them in the car w/no car seat--we are taking Magical Express- not renting a car, so do I really need one on the flight (I know DD will seat in seat) but I am sure that I will have to go out & buy 2 new seats for the flight. The seats that I have in my car right now were rated high by Consumer reports-OF COURSE I WANT MY KIDS SAFE- But what do I do????? HELP!

 

[lastminutemom]

There is no car seat for a 7 year old (unless she is tiny) that is FAA approved --booster seats aren't -- as far as I know.

Can't really tell you what to do for the 3 year old -- my boys are big and that is when I stopped using car seats on the plane, but they were always strapped in.
They were professional fliers and understood the rules. My DD on the other hand travelled much less and I used a car seat with her until she was 4 because she wanted up out of her seat so much (to sit on my lap)