Southwest + Infants

[miprender]

Did you use a car seat on the plane for your one year old when he had his own seat. We will be flying with my grandson that will be 15 months old and from what I read it sounds like you need to take a car seat on the plane?

Yes we did bring his car seat. DH had a little problem getting it in. My DS1 had no problem sitting in it for our 3 hour flight. He actually fell asleep most of the way. As long as we had his blankie he was fine.

I think for our upcoming trip I am going to use his car seat again. But it is a pain to lug it on, but I am afraid with just the lap belt he will want to get out. He is the squirmiest of my 3.

 

[Tara]

Yes we did bring his car seat. DH had a little problem getting it in. My DS1 had no problem sitting in it for our 3 hour flight. He actually fell asleep most of the way. As long as we had his blankie he was fine.

I think for our upcoming trip I am going to use his car seat again. But it is a pain to lug it on, but I am afraid with just the lap belt he will want to get out. He is the squirmiest of my 3.

We used the car seat on the plane until my son was 3. Yes, it was a hassle, but:

• We always rent cars so we needed it on the other end
• I don't like the idea of checking it
• He was more comfortable and able to sleep
• I felt it was safer - he wasn't 40 pounds yet (heck, he's 8.5 now and only 53 pounds)

If you use a car seat, just remember to turn the buckle upside down before fastening it - otherwise, when you tighten it, it will be snug against the car seat back and you won't be able to lift the flap to unbuckle it.

 

[miprender]

Thanks Tara... I will mention that to DH.

We are renting a car too so either way I have to take the car seat, but I was debating on checking the car seat with the other booster seats or take it on the plane.

But I probably will, since I know DS will be strapped in tight and safe.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I would love to start a thread that is exclusively about traveling with an infant without the discussion of whether or not one should travel with a lap baby. It is difficult for me to find the answers that I want because so many of the other threads are stuffed with opinions about traveling with children without getting down to the basics.

So, in the interest of finding the answers to specific questions and peaceful discussion , could people please share their recent Southwest Airlines infant or lap baby experiences? How was it checking in? Do you have a large family? Were you able to sit together or at least near each other? (No need to discuss whether it is right or not to ask people to move around to accommodate - I just want to know whether families have been successful).

Because we are traveling with 3 children, we are worried that even if we pay for early bird check in and if we pay for a seat for our DD1 that we will still be separated. Has this happend to others? We have a DS4 and DS6 who we worry about if we all get sprinkled around the plane.

How has the new seating assignment process worked for others with children? If you have chosen to travel with a lap infant, what was your check-in experience like? Were there special issues that you encountered because of it?

Thanks in advance for any advice and stories that people provide!

We just resently returned from Tampa with two lap kids (both under two). We were told after we were seated that next time we could have only 1 lap kid per row due to the number of oxygen masks per row 4. The flight attendent let us stay where we were, but told us next time we would have to sit isle and isle. I told the nice CM that next time we fly (September) our oldest will be 2.5 and will need her own seat anyways so this wouldn't be an issue.

 

[RachelEllen]

I just wanted to put in another plug for the CARES harness. It was the best thing ever. We started using it when DD was 16 months. She is average weight and had just reached the weight limit. It is incredibley easy to set up and use and made manuervering through the airport, security, and plane /so/ much easier.

Plus, it is extremely cute!

 

[princessmorgan]

We have flown SW many times with a lap child and never have been separated. We do try to check in at the 24 hour mark though. We recently flew United across the country with our children and I was going to bring car seats, but I decided against it. I think my kids would have screamed to be constrained by their car seats for that long and I would have had no choice but to make them sit there. My 18 month old was fidgety but did pretty well the whole flight. It could have been worse!

 

[Poohlovr]

I have a problem with a tight layover (25 min).

My original plan was to take the car seat for our grandson to use (he will be 27 months old when we fly), but now I worry about getting the car seat out of plane #1, getting to the connecting flight and getting the car seat fastened into plane #2.... in 25 minutes!

It will be a lot faster just to use the lap belt and be able to grab him out of the seat and run to the connecting flight than to have to deal with the car seat, but I would just feel better with him in the car seat. I'm sure he will be a lot more comfortable and less squirmy.

The first leg of our flight is just over an hour and leg two is 2 hrs, 20 min.

I'm just not sure why to do.

I'm going to take the car seat anyway, because we have a rental car, but I'm leaning toward just checking it.

Decisions, decisions,