car seats on plane

[2thfairy]

This is our first time flying that we will need to take car seats. we have a 5 and 2 yr old. We are planning on taking just a booster seat for ds 5 and a booster high back seat for ds 2. Can we take these on the plane and have the kids sit in them or do we gate check them? We are not sure what will be best. We think both boys will sit in theirs on the plane but ds2 worries me. not sure if he would rather sit in the car seat or reg seat. We weren't sure what was the easiest to do. Any help would be great. I could not find on the tsa site anything about car seats on the plane.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

You cannot use any booster seats on a plane. You will have to either check them or gate check them.

OT- You have your 2 yo in a booster seat?

 

[mjkacmom]

You cannot use any booster seats on a plane. You will have to either check them or gate check them.

OT- You have your 2 yo in a booster seat?

 

[bookgirl]

there were tons of families with their car seats on the plane last week but these were all the full sized seats (infant through an about 2 year old). I'd call your airline and ask about car seat guidelines and then have them email you the exact guideline just so there are no surprises at the airport.


Oh and ps that only works if you buy a ticket for them I don't think lap children are allowed to bring a seat incase of an open seat.

 

[AmyBWV99]

Boosters are not FAA approved, and car seats have to have a sticker on them stating that are FAA approved for air travel.

I've flown with car seats quite a bit ours are, Britax seats, they never seemed to really check until recently everytime we fly both the ticket counter and flight attendent have been checking. There should be a sticker with red wirting saying yea or nay, I've seen it on other's as well as ours.

 

[hardingk]

The seat must say that it is FAA approved on the side of it.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Your 5yo's booster seat will have to be checked. Most airlines (that we've flown, anyway) have large plastic bags at check-in, that you can put the booster seat in.

If your 2yo is using the high-back booster as a booster, same for his. If it's one of the combination car/booster seats that has a removable 5-point harness, and you're using the harness, then you should be able to bring it on the plane (if it's FAA approved, I think most recent models are).

All the research I did when my kids were younger said that kids under 4 (or 40 pounds) ought to be in a car seat on a plane. The lap belts just don't fit them correctly. Also, they are used to being in a car seat in the car, so they're comfortable in it.

Have a great trip.

 

[CDNTech]

I'm guessing your 2 year old is in a combination seat (harnessed then turns into a booster). He should definitely be in a harness given his age and you can take the seat and install it on the plane.

Any seat older than 6 years from the date of manufacturer has expired and any seat newer than 6 years old definitely has an FAA sticker certifying it for airplane use.

If your 5 year old is in a booster (uses adult seatbelt to secure him, no harness), then you can not use this on the plane... boosters can only be used with lap/shoulder belts and the plane only comes with lapbelts. You can gate check the booster seat and then use it at your destination... or if you will only be traveling by ME/bus, you can leave the booster at home since you won't need/be allowed to use it with those methods of transportation.

 

[IntercomGroupPage]

Get a CARES harness for the 2 year old. The 5 year old should be fine with the standard lap belt.

 

[mom2meiko]

another thing to keep in mind when flying with a carseat - the carseat must be installed in the window seat - unless that seat remains unoccupied and it may then go in the middle seat. we are specifically using a cares harness instead of a carseat for our (will be) 2.5 yr old so that she and her new brother/sister (will be 6.5 months) can sit in the same row with me on the trip.

 

[Iott Family]

Get a CARES harness for the 2 year old. The 5 year old should be fine with the standard lap belt.

I rented a CARES harness online for $15 from a nice lady on ebay. No I am not that nice lady, just a mom of 4 who has one kid under the 40 pound limit who didnt want to haul a car seat through the airport on top of herding 4 kids and carry on luggage and dealing with TSA. If you are a a frequent flyer you can buy a CARES harness but they are $75+ a piece and we are not frequent flyers so renting one is better $ sense.

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

Do carseats newer than 6 years old have FAA approved stickers on them or is it necessary to take the carseat somewhere to be checked and "stickered"?

 

[jpeka65844]

We've never fooled with car seats/CARES harnesses on planes. We've checked a car seat before (b/c we were riding in a friend's car upon arrival) but never used one on the plane. Personally, I don't think they're worth the trouble. Like my MIL said, and not to be morbid, but if something goes wrong with your plane, a car seat isn't going to do much good.

Keep in mind that CARES harnesses do not work on all planes. The seats on Midwest Airlines (our preferred airline) are too large for them. The arrangement of the tray table on the back made it impossible to use it.

 

[mom2meiko]

We've never fooled with car seats/CARES harnesses on planes. We've checked a car seat before (b/c we were riding in a friend's car upon arrival) but never used one on the plane. Personally, I don't think they're worth the trouble. Like my MIL said, and not to be morbid, but if something goes wrong with your plane, a car seat isn't going to do much good.

the idea of the car seat is not so much in case of a crash (because I agree with you that not much is going to help in that instance) but to help protect the baby/child in the case of turbulence. my pediatrician begged me to spend the money to get dd a seat of her own and to use the car seat to protect her because he had personally known of a few children who were injured or even (sadly) killed in extreme turbulence. this of course applies more to lapbabies than older kids but even then, they recommend under 40 pounds sit in car seats because they don't generally get adequate protection from the lapbelts - they just don't fit the little ones properly.

 

[hopefor4]

Just got back from Disney with kids, I bought the CARES harness, it worked GREAT! Saved me from having to handle that, 4 kids, 8 pieces of luggage, and my eternal fear of losing someones passport! LOL!

I recommend it, it is pricey, but SO handy!

Michelle

 

[hopefor4]

OH, and I want to add, BE PREPARED FOR AIR SICKNESS! My 27 month old DD was sick on the flight home as it was VERY rough! Unfortunately she was sitting on me at the time! UGH!

Michelle

 

[2thfairy]

Thank you for all your help! Dh is on the phone calling air tran now. He has a seat with a 5 point harness...it just seems so big that i'm not sure it will fit. I think i would feel better gate checking our older ds's seat then checking it with our luggage. I think ds (2.5)will do better strapped in his car seat. We don't fly enough to buy a cares harness. We are taking a stroller so maybe we can strap the car seat to it while we are at the airport.
Now i need to go out to the car and check to see if it has a sticker on it.

 

[justhat]

another thing to keep in mind when flying with a carseat - the carseat must be installed in the window seat - unless that seat remains unoccupied and it may then go in the middle seat. we are specifically using a cares harness instead of a carseat for our (will be) 2.5 yr old so that she and her new brother/sister (will be 6.5 months) can sit in the same row with me on the trip.

Though this is generally true, you can have 2 carseats in the same row. I have flown alone with my kids many times and had them both in their carseats, along with me, in the same row. My son was in an infant seat at the time so he had to be in the window seat. I sat in the middle seat and my daughter, who was 2.5yo at the time, sat in the aisle seat. The FAs told me that as long as my daughter's seat did not extend past the seat of the airplane then it was fine to have her on the aisle.

 

[SamiL]

another thing to keep in mind when flying with a carseat - the carseat must be installed in the window seat - unless that seat remains unoccupied and it may then go in the middle seat. we are specifically using a cares harness instead of a carseat for our (will be) 2.5 yr old so that she and her new brother/sister (will be 6.5 months) can sit in the same row with me on the trip.

We flew Delta in August and I sat in the window seat, DH sat in the aisle seat and DS was in his car seat in the middle. No one told us we should do anything different.

 

[Mickey'n'Me]

the idea of the car seat is not so much in case of a crash (because I agree with you that not much is going to help in that instance) but to help protect the baby/child in the case of turbulence. my pediatrician begged me to spend the money to get dd a seat of her own and to use the car seat to protect her because he had personally known of a few children who were injured or even (sadly) killed in extreme turbulence. this of course applies more to lapbabies than older kids but even then, they recommend under 40 pounds sit in car seats because they don't generally get adequate protection from the lapbelts - they just don't fit the little ones properly.

AMEN!!!! Finally someone that feels the same way I do!! I kringe with the thought of people holding infants on there lap during flight!!! We use the CARES harness and love it!! Not to mention it gives me piece of mind. If I did not have it I would definately be putting my daughter in a car seat, even though it is a pain to carry through the airport.