Help! car seat, airplane, and 7 year old

[sillybaer]

Don't do it. They are heavy and bulky and take up a ton of room on the plane. If the person in front reclines she will be even more smashed. If you do it the car seat HAS to go on the window seat and you must purchase the seat the next to it, which will make you all more cramped.

There really is no need for it and honestly you don't see many in car seats on planes pass age 2-3 and even then not that many do it for the younger.

We flew with my DD at 20 months and she had her own seat and no car seat and was fine.

It really is not that worth it.

Most children on most car trips would also be perfectly fine without a car seat. We use them to prevent tragedy for those occasional times when we are in a collision. While air travel is safer than car travel, when airplane accidents do happen they occur at 150-200mph (that's survivable runway incidents during take-off and landings as they are more common than the dramatic fall out of the sky unsurvivable crashes). Car seat use has increased dramatically on airplanes. So while many parents still don't use them and many parents still travel with babies on their laps, more and more parents choose to protect their kids just in case.

 

[jlwhitney]

Most children on most car trips would also be perfectly fine without a car seat. We use them to prevent tragedy for those occasional times when we are in a collision. While air travel is safer than car travel, when airplane accidents do happen they occur at 150-200mph (that's survivable runway incidents during take-off and landings as they are more common than the dramatic fall out of the sky unsurvivable crashes). Car seat use has increased dramatically on airplanes. So while many parents still don't use them and many parents still travel with babies on their laps, more and more parents choose to protect their kids just in case.

It still really is not that common. On our flights we have flown I have seen one kid in a car seat and it was a toddler not an older kid that can behave and sit still. Most just check their seats or rent when they get where they are going if the even need one.

Sorry you can't worry about every little what if. In that case there are tons of things kids do that they shouldn't because they might get hurt/killed.

Bring a booster seat for car travel after landing is more than appropriate.

 

[SMD]

She may weigh 40 lbs by October and the airplane issue will be moot.

 

[jlwhitney]

If you really feel that she needs a car seat on the plane, what about renting a CARES harness from ebay. Way simpler and easier.

 

[bumbershoot]

So is the plane seatbelt tighter than a car seatbelt? I haven't flown in 10 years and can't remember what the belts are like. I ask because she would slide right out from under a car seatbelt.
I looked into the harness, but they are only approved for up to 40in.

How would she accidentally slide out of a car seatbelt? Oh you mean in a collision?

Regardless, the lapbelt on the plane tightens as much as you need it to. Since she's short she can sit crisscross and tighten that lapbelt up. Since she's older, she's mature enough to know how to behave- when seated the belt goes on (plane rules). That protects from the unexpected turbulence.

I think that the type of motion is different than say being rear ended or slamming on brakes, which might be why I haven't heard of issues with kids slipping under the belt (submarining) on a plane?

Absolutely. As you are saying, we are talking about totally different forces and accidents here. With planes the concern is keeping the kids from going airborne in sudden ups and downs. Lapbelt is good at that. Some kids won't accept the lapbelt or the rules and that's why car seats are good for those kids. One day my flight changed and I was faced with the prospect of getting the Roundabout and 2ish year old and carryons onto an already full, about to take off, plane, and I couldn't handle it. Told him the rules, gate checked (to be picked up at the ramp in order to minimize the forces on the seat) the seat, and had an easy breezy flight with him very safe in his lapbelt. And he felt SO grown up and proud that I believed in him that to this day (he's 11) he clips that belt on even if we are half an hour from takeoff procedures and bugs us to, too.

We didn't start using the bubblebum in cars until he was 6+, and at home he was still in a high back booster (we bought the nautilus for home to keep him harnessed to the max weight but that stinker outgrew the harness by height WAY before his weight hit the harness limit and we couldn't afford to get the Frontier or whatever it was called) and we only used that traveling. Perfect invention. Pops the mature-enough-to-be-in-a-booster kid up for the belts to fit, and weighs a pound so the kid can carry it on his or her own.



In the time we were flying with a seat I never had a FA look at my seat let along look for a sticker. Some FAs have too much time on their hands IMO.

 

[wanderlust7]

In the time we were flying with a seat I never had a FA look at my seat let along look for a sticker. Some FAs have too much time on their hands IMO.

Guess we got unlucky! It was DD's first flight too. DH even tried to look up the manual on his phone, but the FA said she wouldn't accept that. We have a Chicco KeyFit, so it's not like it's an uncommon one either.

 

[SMD]

The CARES website says the regular harness can be used for special needs up to 5 ft. You should contact them and ask for more info on using them for slightly over 4 inches. It may be listed that way because of the FAA requirement and not the function of the harness.

 

[corinne76]

How much driving will you actually be doing? I'm in the car seat fanatic category but am comfortable not using one on the plane for my kids. They will be 4.5 and 7.5 when we travel next.

Dd rides in a hbb now and I'll either bring her a backless or a bubble bum. For ds, he's still harnessed but I'm comfortable using a hbb on the trip. I do plan to booster train before going so he knows how to sit still with just the seat belt. He sits well now so i don't forsee him trying to move too much, plus we won't be driving back and forth all that much on our trip

 

[darlenesmommy]

The bublebum can not be used on the plane but can be used in the car to s d from the airport. As long as you think she will sit properly in a booster you can go with the bublebum. A booster seat can not be used a lap belt only it must be a lap and shoulder belt. Kids around 7 years old unless still in a harness sit on a plane with out a car seat. Most by that age are not in a harness anymore. She should be bucked in at all times though unless going to the bathroom.

It is way safer to have your child in a car seat vs no car seat. I have never let my kids fly with out a car seat. It's not just about a crash it's about hitting
turbulence. Brent Micheals was sent to the hospital with a major head injury for hitting his head during turbulence.

http://carseatblog.com/16971/lap-babies-on-airplane-a-warning-all-parents-must-see/