DO I need to bring car seats?

[Hoopfamily]

I would bring a seat for the little one but not the others. I would not bring rear facing though. You want your kid to be safe during the flight in turbulence, but a car seat is designed to keep kids safe in a crash and thus will do nothing if the plane crashes.

 

[dinatwin]

I certainly can understand bringing a car seat for the plane and I had 2 year old twins I traveled alone with and used car seats on the plane but it's the rear facing part that is what I consider ridiculous and rude.

 

[frtchr]

(Attempting to stay out of the fray...)

OP, whatever works best for you and your family. We're going in December, and DD will be almost 3 and DS will be 15 months. She'll use her CARES harness, and he'll be in his car seat. I would really rather not take the car seat with us, but he's too darn big to hold the whole time on the plane. Plus, the last time we flew (in a little 5-seater plane) DS conked out, and I'm hoping he'll nap in his car seat this time, too. Good luck with your decision, and I hope you have a great trip!

 

[dinatwin]

You know what I shouldn't be judging you. I apologize for my comments. We are all moms here and I truly regret judging you. Moms and women for that matter should support each other. We can agree to disagree.

 

[Erica09M]

You know what I shouldn't be judging you. I apologize for my comments. We are all moms here and I truly regret judging you. Moms and women for that matter should support each other. We can agree to disagree.

Thank you, I appreciate that! I agree with you 100%

 

[pooh4evr]

We haven't taken carseats for our girls any of the times we have traveled with them. When they were an infant I held them (under 1) = the next time we go the youngest will be a week away from her 3rd bday- she will have her own seat but we are not bringing a carseat for her, nor for our 6 and 8 yr old. I know some will think that is a bad decision but it is the one we have made for ourselves and our situation and it works for us. Now times we have left WDW and gone to SeaWorld there has always been a minivan taxi at our hotel that we have used that had carseats available if needed- had they looked supect I wouldn't have used them. Overall do you have to have one No but you may choose one for the reasons others have stated- personally it is just another thing I have to lug around with us and I choose not to.

 

[Colleen27]

It's still really rude, and the "safety" aspect is so minimal as to be meaningless.

I think that parents of young children are in a no-win position as far as rudeness on planes... Rear facing and the person in front of the child can't recline, forward facing that same person is likely to get kicked a few times even with the most watchful parent. The best we can do is make the decision that seems the least rude based on the context of the situation. My DD will be rear facing on our upcoming trip, because the inconvenience of not being able to recline on a short daytime flight is likely to be less than the inconvenience of an active, kicking toddler forward facing in the same seat.

As far as whether to take the seat in the first place, I waffled for a long time and did a ton of research, and I just don't find the safety evidence all that compelling. Turbulence related injuries are exceedingly rare. I ended up deciding to get DD15mo a seat not out of safety concerns but purely for convenience - holding onto her for 3 minutes when I run into the drugstore can be a challenge because she wants to be free to walk & explore, so I sure don't want to be trying to hold onto her for 3 hours on a plane!