Question - small child and seat belt or CARES harness on plane?

[NikitaZee]

This is our first time flying with our kids. We're going to gate check our small stroller, our 6 yo's booster seat and our 4 yo's 5 pt harness car seat. My question is, is the seat belt enough of a restraint for a small 4 year old, or should we rent a CARES harness? I want him to be secure if we have a bumpy flight, but don't really want to put him in his car seat for the flight if we don't have to. Thanks.

 

[laughinplace199]

The seatbelt will be fine for a 4 yr old. My DS will have just turned 5 before our next trip. He will need his carseat when we land because we are renting a car, but I am going to gate check it. I am sure he will be fine with the seatbelt on the plane.

 

[Nennie]

I use a CARES harness for my almost 3 year old, but it's more to keep him contained than anything else! He's a squirmer, and I could see him trying to squiggle out of the lapbelt, so the extra harness on his shoulders keeps him in his seat, and keeps me from getting stressed!

If your little guy isn't the squirming type, then a lapbet should be fine, but if not, I'd get the harness for your own sanity!!

 

[Diz Kids]

I believe that when my daughter was 4 is when we stopped using it. I do still use it with our 3yo, and as the pp said, he is a little more wiggly, so it makes me feel a little better it would take a little more for him to get himself unbuckled. You are probably fine with just the belt with a 4 year old.

 

[NikitaZee]

Thanks for the replies. It's good to know that more experienced flyers than myself feel comfortable with the seatbelt option - my little guy's not really the squirmy kind, I was just worried about safety in case of turbulence. Thanks again!

 

[Michigan_tinkerbell]

Please don't think I am being rude or anything but I do work for an Airline and I know the SAFEST way for a child that young to fly is in the CARES. We are using down for both our DD and DS (3.5 and almost 2) We rent them off of Ebay and I know they will be safe.

Just my two cents like I said I work for an airline and I know how much safer it is for them.

 

[laughinplace199]

Please don't think I am being rude or anything but I do work for an Airline and I know the SAFEST way for a child that young to fly is in the CARES. We are using down for both our DD and DS (3.5 and almost 2) We rent them off of Ebay and I know they will be safe.

Just my two cents like I said I work for an airline and I know how much safer it is for them.

Just curious, how do you know this? I tried googling but couldn't come up with any info other than ads for CARES. I would think a carseat would be safer than CARES since so many people talk about their child sliding down in the CARES. Or did you mean a carseat or CARES is safer than just a seatbelt? I can see that being the case for a toddler, but not a 4 yr old. If you can enlighten us, that would be great.

 

[SamSam]

Please don't think I am being rude or anything but I do work for an Airline and I know the SAFEST way for a child that young to fly is in the CARES. We are using down for both our DD and DS (3.5 and almost 2) We rent them off of Ebay and I know they will be safe.

Just my two cents like I said I work for an airline and I know how much safer it is for them.

You can rent off EBAY? Woud you mind posting the particulars. We are having a big family trip in Feb. and our DD, DSIL and their 2 twin boys who will be 14 months at the time are coming. I know they don't really want to deal with the huge carseats they have and buying the CARES for 1 trip is really expensive, but renting seems like a good option. Any details would be appreciated.

 

[DragonMomma]

I'm not certain if I'm permitted to link to ebay listings, but
I will share with you my experience. I'm going in Oct and I've already
contacted the 'seller' and secured my rental dates. With shipping,
the rental is just below 20 bucks. She asks that you contact her
before 'purchasing', just so there's no mix up about availibity,
also she was flexible with return dates (which did not alter the
cost of the rental) so long as I promised to actually get it in the
mail (post marked) by a date we agreed on. The seller's information,
in case you were interested : m_and_d_in_fl

Good luck!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You can rent off EBAY? Woud you mind posting the particulars. We are having a big family trip in Feb. and our DD, DSIL and their 2 twin boys who will be 14 months at the time are coming. I know they don't really want to deal with the huge carseats they have and buying the CARES for 1 trip is really expensive, but renting seems like a good option. Any details would be appreciated.

Just go to eBay and do a search for CARES harness. That will find them.

Please don't think I am being rude or anything but I do work for an Airline and I know the SAFEST way for a child that young to fly is in the CARES. We are using down for both our DD and DS (3.5 and almost 2) We rent them off of Ebay and I know they will be safe.

Just my two cents like I said I work for an airline and I know how much safer it is for them.

Please don't post opinions as fact. Unless you care to post links to research to back this up.

 

[laughinplace199]

Please don't post opinions as fact. Unless you care to post links to research to back this up.

I agree. If the PP KNOWS that CARES is safer, I'd like to see where he/she got that info.

 

[CarrieR]

Using the seatbelts for 4 & 6 year olds wouldn't concern me in the least, but checking the carseats concerns me a great deal. I know this isn't what you asked, so I hope you'll forgive me for offering up an opinion here -- it's one of those things I find parents aren't aware can be dangerous. Airlines aren't known to be terribly gentle with carseats, and as a carseat tech, I consider a seat that comes into a check essentially the same a crashed seat if it has been checked on an airplane. They can be thrown/dropped distances and exposed to unknown stresses, so after that, I wouldn't trust them to be lifesaving equipment for my child. If you need to bring the carseat on the trip, I would just take the 5-point right on the plane; if you pack the back of the 6 yo's booster (designed for positioning and not restraint,) well-padded in a suitcase it should be okay, and you can carry on the bottom (which is what takes the crash forces) and stick it in an overhead bin.

Also, CARES tend to not work well for very small/young children, so for the PP interested in them for the 14 month olds, I probably would opt out. If the babies have their own seats (and are not lap children,) you could consider bringing their infant buckets, if they still fit. Many are so big now that kids fit in them well past a year! They are usually easy to install baseless with a lap belt on a plane. Otherwise, you could invest in a spare/travel seat that is more lightweight than their big carseats; I'd be happy to give a few recommendations if you'd like.

 

[laughinplace199]

Using the seatbelts for 4 & 6 year olds wouldn't concern me in the least, but checking the carseats concerns me a great deal. I know this isn't what you asked, so I hope you'll forgive me for offering up an opinion here -- it's one of those things I find parents aren't aware can be dangerous. Airlines aren't known to be terribly gentle with carseats, and as a carseat tech, I consider a seat that comes into a check essentially the same a crashed seat if it has been checked on an airplane. They can be thrown/dropped distances and exposed to unknown stresses, so after that, I wouldn't trust them to be lifesaving equipment for my child. If you need to bring the carseat on the trip, I would just take the 5-point right on the plane; if you pack the back of the 6 yo's booster (designed for positioning and not restraint,) well-padded in a suitcase it should be okay, and you can carry on the bottom (which is what takes the crash forces) and stick it in an overhead bin.

Do you think gate checking a carseat is a bad idea? I've never checked a carseat, we've always used it on the plane. This time, my youngest will be 5, so he really doesn't need a carseat on the plane. I wasn't going to check his carseat with our luggage due to how roughly luggage is handled, but I thought gate checking might be ok. We always gate check our stroller and have never had any damage to it, so I was hoping to do the same with the carseat.

 

[CarrieR]

Honestly, I really do. You're counting on that seat to protect your child in the event of a car crash... which requires it to be in proper working order. But when you give the seat over to the custody of the airline, you have no control over what they do to it. I put this video in another thread, but just for the sake of inclusion --

Carseats being thrown before loading onto the airplane

Granted those appear to be checked seats and not gate-checked seats, but gate-checked seats are carried to the ground and loaded into the plane just as checked seats are. There's a thread here on the transportation board (I think it's the Delta one) where a poster gate-checked her stroller and the airlines broke it.

At least if the airlines break it visibly, you know that the seat needs replaced... there's also the possibility that there's no visible damage, but there may be invisible stressors that are cause for seat to fail to protect your son in a crash. That, IMO, would be the worst case scenario. I'm cautious when it comes to kids and seats, but I'm just so hesitant to trust that a piece of potentially lifesaving equipment will not be mishandled.

Is your younger son an older 4 or 5 year old? If he's not a young 4, not terribly petite, and relatively mature, I might consider training him on how to ride in a booster at home and using it on vacation. That way you can pack the back(s) in luggage and just carry the booster bases on the plane -- stow them and use the airplane seatbelts. Or, there are other options, too -- like a travel vest, which operates like a 5-point harness but folds for easy transport -- but I can certainly understand not wanting to invest in something like that for a trip. If you really feel most comfortable with him in the 5-pt, still, then I think I would deal with the hassle and carry the lightest weight seat you have for him onto the plane.

 

[NikitaZee]

Honestly, I really do. You're counting on that seat to protect your child in the event of a car crash... which requires it to be in proper working order. But when you give the seat over to the custody of the airline, you have no control over what they do to it. I put this video in another thread, but just for the sake of inclusion --

Carseats being thrown before loading onto the airplane

Granted those appear to be checked seats and not gate-checked seats, but gate-checked seats are carried to the ground and loaded into the plane just as checked seats are. There's a thread here on the transportation board (I think it's the Delta one) where a poster gate-checked her stroller and the airlines broke it.

At least if the airlines break it visibly, you know that the seat needs replaced... there's also the possibility that there's no visible damage, but there may be invisible stressors that are cause for seat to fail to protect your son in a crash. That, IMO, would be the worst case scenario. I'm cautious when it comes to kids and seats, but I'm just so hesitant to trust that a piece of potentially lifesaving equipment will not be mishandled.

Is your younger son an older 4 or 5 year old? If he's not a young 4, not terribly petite, and relatively mature, I might consider training him on how to ride in a booster at home and using it on vacation. That way you can pack the back(s) in luggage and just carry the booster bases on the plane -- stow them and use the airplane seatbelts. Or, there are other options, too -- like a travel vest, which operates like a 5-point harness but folds for easy transport -- but I can certainly understand not wanting to invest in something like that for a trip. If you really feel most comfortable with him in the 5-pt, still, then I think I would deal with the hassle and carry the lightest weight seat you have for him onto the plane.

Thanks for all the information. I never thought that checking his car seat would potentially damage it. My little guy just turned 4 and is really slender. Since we're renting a van and need the car seat anyway, I think we'll just suck it up and use it on the plane. My daughter's booster - we'll carry on and stow in the overhead bin. We were just planning on bringing the bottom part - not the high back (they are both Britax seats). There are 5 of us - 3 of them kids - so we'll still be fine with our carry-on limits. Thanks again

 

[laughinplace199]

Honestly, I really do. You're counting on that seat to protect your child in the event of a car crash... which requires it to be in proper working order. But when you give the seat over to the custody of the airline, you have no control over what they do to it. I put this video in another thread, but just for the sake of inclusion --

Carseats being thrown before loading onto the airplane

Granted those appear to be checked seats and not gate-checked seats, but gate-checked seats are carried to the ground and loaded into the plane just as checked seats are. There's a thread here on the transportation board (I think it's the Delta one) where a poster gate-checked her stroller and the airlines broke it.

At least if the airlines break it visibly, you know that the seat needs replaced... there's also the possibility that there's no visible damage, but there may be invisible stressors that are cause for seat to fail to protect your son in a crash. That, IMO, would be the worst case scenario. I'm cautious when it comes to kids and seats, but I'm just so hesitant to trust that a piece of potentially lifesaving equipment will not be mishandled.

Is your younger son an older 4 or 5 year old? If he's not a young 4, not terribly petite, and relatively mature, I might consider training him on how to ride in a booster at home and using it on vacation. That way you can pack the back(s) in luggage and just carry the booster bases on the plane -- stow them and use the airplane seatbelts. Or, there are other options, too -- like a travel vest, which operates like a 5-point harness but folds for easy transport -- but I can certainly understand not wanting to invest in something like that for a trip. If you really feel most comfortable with him in the 5-pt, still, then I think I would deal with the hassle and carry the lightest weight seat you have for him onto the plane.

Thank you for this info. My DS will have just turned 5 when we go to WDW. He's pretty average for height, but he only weighs 32 pounds. Even though we do have a booster seat that says it's for 30-100 pounds, I'm hesitant to put him in it. I just bought it so we have a booster for friends he might have over (most other kids in his class at school seem to be over 40 lbs).

 

[CarrieR]

Ooh, yeah, at just 32lbs I think you're on the right track. If he was more like 35-36, even, I would be more likely to encourage you to go ahead with the booster... or 32lbs at 6. I prefer to see kids being a minimum of 40lbs before booster usage, but I'm also comfortable sliding that number back a bit the older a kid gets. (Let's face it, there are some kids who would be like 8 before they hit 40lbs!)

If you're open to getting a spare/travel seat, I've seen many recommendations for the Evenflo Maestro. I've only installed one myself, but it was a very easy install. It harnesses to 50lbs with high top harness slots (equal to the Graco Nautilus or the original Britax Frontier) and reportedly works very well on airplanes, including allowing the tray table to come down. It's a fairly budget seat, usually found for $80 or a bit below with coupons. OTOH, at 5, I can certainly understand not wanting to sink money into another harnessed seat!

 

[laughinplace199]

Actually, I just purchased the Maestro as a travel seat. It was super easy to install and DS seems to like it. I was just trying to avoild bringing it on the plane since he doesn't need it for the plane. I think I will end up bringing it though. I think you're right about not knowing how the car seats are handled if they're checked with luggage or even gate checked. Thanks!