CARES Harness Pros and Cons/Need urgent advice

[Anonymous]

We have a busy fall travel season coming up, including both short haul (to Canada) and long haul (to Asia) flights - not to mention a few domestic ones thrown in. DS is a 97th percentile height 19 month old, who will, I assume, keep growing throughout the fall. We are planning to get him his own seat each time - but I would dearly dearly love not to have to bring the car seat onto the plane.

I am considering the CARES harness and would very much appreciate your thoughts on this. Good, bad, ugly?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

CARES says you can use the harness for kids 1-4. However, many of the airlines require that you place your child in a car seat if s/he is under 2. You should contact the airlines on which you will be traveling to determine whether they will require the car seat.

[Anonymous]

Have never seen the carseat policy but it might exist. We bought a CARES harness for my son to use shortly after he turned two. It has been great. Easy to carry and install.

[Anonymous]

I seem to be only person who hated the cares. I used it first time with my then 16 month old. He was really small for it and kept slumping kind of. Later it was better but had other situations.

1. One time the seats had an indent in the back where the person's tray behind me would fit. When I installed cares, the person's tray wouldn't close and lock. So it just didn't use it.

2. I got upgraded to First class, didn't fit on the seat.

Wish I hadn't bought it.

[Anonymous]

I'm 16:11 and wanted to comment on PP's message. There are two ways to install depending on the type of seat/tray. Could you have installed it incorrectly? We were also upgraded to 1st class on one flight when DS was 26 months and we were able to use it. This was on a Delta flight down to Mexico.

I have loaned mine out to several of my friends and they have loved it. Maybe you could borrow a friends before buying one yourself.

[Anonymous]

I think CARES is great for kids over 2. Before that, no matter how large the child, they're just too squirmy and it's not great for sleeping on the plane.

Especially for a flight to Asia, I would take the carseat. It's much comfier and your child is much more likely to fall asleep in it than with the CARES. I have to undo the CARES and let my DS flop onto my lap if I want him to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Haven't used the CARES, but would tend to agree with 16:34. Have flown a lot with our now 20 month old, including a late night / red-eye return to CA last month on which I bought her her own seat - and I was SO glad to have the car sat with us. Once she was asleep, she was out and stayed that way for hours at a time - on the red-eye she fell asleep about an hour in and stayed asleep through landing until time to deplane. We travel enough that I plan to get a CARES when she's older, but for now I really appreciate having the car seat on the plane, and think it's worth the small extra hassle of wrestling it through the airport / onto the plane.

FWIW - DD's primary seat at home is a Britax Blvd, but we have a Cosco Scenara that is our spare seat for our 2ndary car. While not as plush as the Britax, the Scenara gets great safety ratings, is cheap (we paid $60 at TRU), and is a LOT lighter, so much easier to get through the airport. I would highly recommend it for a seat to bring with you while traveling. You can also find things online that will let you turn the seat into a wheeled cart, or just straps to connect the seat to a carry on bag. I don't have one yet, but plan to get one of the straps - I was able to finagle the seat by strapping it around the handle of my carry-on, but it was definitely a bit awkward.

[Anonymous]

OP here: We have an Evenflo Triumph and I am certain my kid will be squirmy in it on the 'plane the same way he is in the car. Hence, the assumption that I would have to bust him out to sleep on the seat/flopped over me.

Additional question to the PPs and others who brought the car seat along - I am assuming it installs upright onto the seat, with no reclining ability whatsoever?