Car seat ON plane for almost 3 yr old?

[Anonymous]

We are trying to figure out what to do re: car seat for our almost 3 yr old. For a 1.5 hr plane ride.

We worry about quality of a rented car seat (possibly damaged). And wondered the price.

But also worried about damage to ours if we gate checked our car seat. And possible voiding of warranty.

Then wondered about just installing Britax Boulevard convertible on plane seat. Is there enough room?

Appreciate ideas/experiences.

[Anonymous]

When we had one dc we gate checked and used a CARES harness. When DC2 came along, we rented the cars seats with the car and used CARES harnesses for both.

[Anonymous]

I just don't trust car seats from rental companies. What do you do if you show up and they don't have them? You are ducked.

[Anonymous]

I just did this with a 3-year old in a Britax Marathon and it worked fine. It was really easy. It was on southwest so we had plenty of time to get her situated. I can't speak to rental car seats -- we didn't travel with it to avoid renting a carseat, we did it bc it was a spare one I was planning to leave in my hometown at my parents', but we had no problem carrying it on and buckling it in using the lap belt in our narrow coach seat. My DD was really comfortable in it. Though she could not use the tray table so I had to have more handheld toys and books to occupy her. She also sat by the window and I think that was required.

[Anonymous]

Definitely check the seat. We've done it a lot and never had any damage. Use the CARES harness on the plane. Your child won't have room to put her legs down if you put the carseat in the airplane seat -- IME, it pretty much fills the entire space in front of the seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely check the seat. We've done it a lot and never had any damage. Use the CARES harness on the plane. Your child won't have room to put her legs down if you put the carseat in the airplane seat -- IME, it pretty much fills the entire space in front of the seat.

You can't see the kind of damage that people are talking about, until the carseat fails in an accident.

The one time I traveled with a toddler under 3, I put his carseat on the plane. He had a lot of experience with how to behave in the carseat, so I figured why mess with something he knew. It worked out fine, but of course I don't know how would have done without one. Maybe equally well.

[Anonymous]

I took our behemoth Nextfit on a much longer flight. If it's FAA approved they have to try to accommodate you. Ours was tight and forward facing he kicked the seat in front of him (I did my absolute best to stop this, but he wasn't even two yet and I had restrain him which caused screaming), and rear facing, no kicking but person in front couldn't recline. That shouldn't be a problem for a 1.5 hour flight, though. I was glad we had our seat there, though, because the time change had him sleeping in the car a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely check the seat. We've done it a lot and never had any damage. Use the CARES harness on the plane. Your child won't have room to put her legs down if you put the carseat in the airplane seat -- IME, it pretty much fills the entire space in front of the seat.

You can't see the kind of damage that people are talking about, until the carseat fails in an accident.

The one time I traveled with a toddler under 3, I put his carseat on the plane. He had a lot of experience with how to behave in the carseat, so I figured why mess with something he knew. It worked out fine, but of course I don't know how would have done without one. Maybe equally well.

We've always taken the car seat on the plane. Car seat goes on the seat with baby buckled in. We've never had a problem.

[Anonymous]

If you have to bring the carseat, just take it on the plane. They will let you pre board to set it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took our behemoth Nextfit on a much longer flight. If it's FAA approved they have to try to accommodate you. Ours was tight and forward facing he kicked the seat in front of him (I did my absolute best to stop this, but he wasn't even two yet and I had restrain him which caused screaming), and rear facing, no kicking but person in front couldn't recline. That shouldn't be a problem for a 1.5 hour flight, though. I was glad we had our seat there, though, because the time change had him sleeping in the car a lot.

Ugh. You sound pretty high maintenance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took our behemoth Nextfit on a much longer flight. If it's FAA approved they have to try to accommodate you. Ours was tight and forward facing he kicked the seat in front of him (I did my absolute best to stop this, but he wasn't even two yet and I had restrain him which caused screaming), and rear facing, no kicking but person in front couldn't recline. That shouldn't be a problem for a 1.5 hour flight, though. I was glad we had our seat there, though, because the time change had him sleeping in the car a lot.

Ugh. You sound pretty high maintenance.

Not pp, but how so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took our behemoth Nextfit on a much longer flight. If it's FAA approved they have to try to accommodate you. Ours was tight and forward facing he kicked the seat in front of him (I did my absolute best to stop this, but he wasn't even two yet and I had restrain him which caused screaming), and rear facing, no kicking but person in front couldn't recline. That shouldn't be a problem for a 1.5 hour flight, though. I was glad we had our seat there, though, because the time change had him sleeping in the car a lot.

Ugh. You sound pretty high maintenance.

+1

When my kids kicked the seat in front of them, I would lean over and put my arm between their feet and the seat back. Yes, it was uncomfortable for me---but it was my kid, so I needed to be the one to take the kick, not the stranger in front.
Another option, if you are flying with another adult, is to place the other adult in the seat in front of your kid, so they are being kicked instead of a random stranger.

[Anonymous]

We had no problem with our britax marathon. I found a video that I watched a bunch of times until I was positive I knew how to install it. I boarded the plane before DH and put in the seat, he came on 2 minutes behind me and ds went right into the seat.

When preparing ds for the flight we told him he would have his carseat, so that he would be prepared and know what to expect. He was forward facing, and fine for 6 hours (he was almost 3, and did end up a sleeping a good amount). At the beginning I showed him the in flight safety material and convinced him that the rules said "no kicking" and "use your indoor voice". Any time he looked like he was going to act up, I reminded him that we didn't want to get in trouble from the pilot.

Carrying the seat through the airport was the only annoying part, but seriously not a huge deal (a backpack style car seat bag might have been helpful, but not necessary).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took our behemoth Nextfit on a much longer flight. If it's FAA approved they have to try to accommodate you. Ours was tight and forward facing he kicked the seat in front of him (I did my absolute best to stop this, but he wasn't even two yet and I had restrain him which caused screaming), and rear facing, no kicking but person in front couldn't recline. That shouldn't be a problem for a 1.5 hour flight, though. I was glad we had our seat there, though, because the time change had him sleeping in the car a lot.

Ugh. You sound pretty high maintenance.

+1

When my kids kicked the seat in front of them, I would lean over and put my arm between their feet and the seat back. Yes, it was uncomfortable for me---but it was my kid, so I needed to be the one to take the kick, not the stranger in front.
Another option, if you are flying with another adult, is to place the other adult in the seat in front of your kid, so they are being kicked instead of a random stranger.

Yes, we did all of this. Offered to switch with a passenger in front but we weren't able to. We hadn't flown before and didn't realize that forward facing his feet were literally right against the seat. We held his legs best we could, though, and tried to distract him with our bag of goodies. And he didn't sleep for an entire 5 hour flight. Traveling with toddlers kind of sucks. I'm not sure how I sound high maintenance, though.