FAA approved flight restraint for little ones?

[sueoz]

Hi - we are flying with a two year old in January and wondered if any of you have used CARES. It is a belt system that attaches to the plane seat belts and is FAA approved. It eliminates having to carry the car seat on and hooking it up. It is on www.kidsflysafe.com. Sounds great but would like to hear from anyone that has used it. We are flying Southwest if that matters.
Thanks,
sye

 

[GraysMom]

We looked into the CARES system before we went to Disney in May with DS2. We decided against it because it doesn't have a strap that goes between the legs like his 5 point car seat harness does, and we were afraid he would just slide down under it over and over. We also planned our flight times for during naptime in the *hope* that he would sleep through the flights rotfl: ) and we knew his wouldn't be held upright enough to be able to sleep.

We ended up buying an Eddie Bauer convertible car seat at Sam's Club for $50. We needed a second car seat for DH's car anyway and this one accomodates a higher range of weights (he qualified for the lower weight by a couple of pounds, so this will grow with him for some time). It's also very lightweight. DH just strapped it onto his heavy duty backpack and carried though the airport on his back w/o any problems. Have a fun trip!

 

[tanyaandallie]

How old is your child? I think the Cares system is a great idea. However, I think it works best for older kids. I think it's rated for 1 and up but I can't imagine a 1 year old would be comfortable sitting in it in the big seat. At that age they would be more comfy in their carseats. There was a mom that posted here recently about how her twins kept sliding down b/c of the lack of a crotch strap.

 

[sueoz]

She will be about 2 1/4 and is not short, but slender. Hmmmm. I guess I'll see if anyone else writes in.
Thanks.
sue

 

[jnsma]

Yes, I recently purchased 2 of them for a trip to WDW. They worked out great.

I have twins that just turned 3 when we went. They are very small for thier age.

We did a DCL cruise then stayed on property at WDW, so no rental car and I didn't want to deal with 2 car seats.

The straps work as advertised. They are very easy to install. There is 1 loop that goes around the back of the seat...... You do have to bother the person behind the child to lower their tray table to install/remove it but it shouldn't get in their way after that.
From the loop around the back of the seat, 2 straps hang down and go to the standard seatbelt. Then there is the standard car seat clip in the front that goes across the childs chest. There are plenty of pictures on their web site so you get the idea.
I have to admit the straps appear to be very high quality, similar to the airline seatbelt material, but the clip across the chest seemed pretty cheap.

My kids had no problem wearing them. It was similar to the car seat straps that it wasn't like it was totally new. But then again, they got to sit in a big people's seat so they liked that.

They aren't cheap by any means (~$75). I don't know what the laws are for when a child "needs" to be in a car seat versus just a lap belt. For us it solved my wife's concern of safety flying with toddlers and they were small/easy/light for me to deal with.
They definately worked out for us and now we'll have them for the next trip.

Feel free to reply or send a PM if you have specific questions.
Jeff.

 

[thepeach80]

We just took our $40 Cosco Scenera for our 2yo when we went. Our other 2 also brought their carseats as well.

 

[justhat]

We have CARES and I use it for my daughter when we fly. It has become a lifesaver when I fly alone with them because I need my son's carseat for the plane and having 2 of them in the same row has posed a problem with some flight attendants. I did buy cheap, lightweight carseat for flying, but even they are heavy to carry around on my back at the airport.

My daughter seems quite happy in her CARES and much prefers it to sitting in her carseat on the plane. I can't wait until my son is old enough for it because then we can just check the carseats and not have a huge backpack to schlep around.