Portable Booster Seat

[DemoBri1]

I can't do a search, so I am going to ask for some help here. A few months back I thought I saw someone post that Wal-Mart carried a portable booster seat that could be utilized on planes that would fold up for easy carrying or storage in overheads.

Was I nuts?

Brian

 

[TammyC]

Here is a link...

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=434995

Tammy

 

[robinb]

Last time we flew with my just 4 year old (40 lbs, 42 inches) I bought a Brittax Comfy Starriser booster. The back comes off and just leaves a backless booster base. If you need a whole new booster, you can buy one that separates like a Brittax or a Graco Turbo Booster. Or, you can just buy a backless booster for about $20. I just bought the backless part and put it in a large backpack in the overhead. You could probably just carry it on without a pack too as it will fit easily.

You cannot use any regular booster in a plane as boosters rely on a shoulder belt and not just a lap belt. Even if you have a booster that has a harness, I have found that my Graco Ultra CarGo booster (5 pt harness up to 40 lbs) put my DD's legs too close to the seat in front of her and bothered the heck out of the poor person in front of her .

Hope this helps!

 

[DemoBri1]

Thank you all for the information. Seems as though there really isn't a good solution any way you go w/o utilizing your own car seat.

Robin, I have a booster that actually can be utilized with a lap belt only or a shoulder type belt. It has instructional stickers to show you how to hook the seat up either way.

Brian

 

[NotUrsula]

It doesn't matter if the booster is useable with a lap belt; the FAA rules still disallow any lap-belt-only CRS.

Toddler/booster convertible seats may only be used on board an aircraft if the 5-pt harness is still attached, and when the 5-pt harness is used to secure the child in the seat. If the child is too tall for the maximum harness height (top slots are below the level of the top of the shoulder), then the harness should not be used, as the downward pressure of the straps on the shoulders would contribute to submarining in an impact, or even in a hard-braking situation. Submarining causes nasty internal injuries.

EDIT:
Oh RATS: I just realized that you were talking about carrying the seat onboard, not using it onboard. There used to be a folding booster seat on the market; the name escapes me right now. It hasn't been mfrd since 2000, I think, and in any case, it didn't fold very small. As a general rule, if you want to take a high-back booster on a trip, it will need to go as checked baggage. Most seat-only boosters are small enough to count as a carryon, but even detached, the seatback is usually too big to fit under that standard. You MIGHT be able to separate the pieces of a seat like a StarRiser or a Graco Turbo and put them in the overhead, but I wouldn't want to count on being able to do that. More than likely, it would still be too large and you'd be forced to gate-check it.