A couple months shy of 2 - buying a ticket

[Anonymous]

I am unable to get an accurate idea online re how much a ticket for a toddler a bit under 2 would cost. Does anyone know? DS is big for his age and won't be traveling as a lap child. However, we are flying to India and back, which will be a first for all of us flying together and I am also trying to determine my best options of the following:

1. Is the car seat the safest and most comfortable option?
2. If so, which is the best variety for bringing on board? I am having nightmares thinking about schlepping this thing!
3. Has anyone tried that kids harness type thing? Pros? Cons?
4. Are those built in seat-stroller looking things any good?

TIA!

[Anonymous]

Tickets for my DD have always been full price. If she gets a seat, I have to pay what the airline would have gotten for it otherwise. We have always flown SW. Maybe other airlines are different. My daughter at that age would not sit in her carseat on the plane, so we never brought it. We strapped her in with the seatbelt for takeoff and landing. GL!

[Anonymous]

My experience is the same as PPs - tickets for kids cost the same as for adults. The only time I paid less was when I did international flights for my kids when they were under 2 and I didn't get them a seat. Then I had to pay 10 or 20% of the cost of my fare - I guess for the privilege of being on the plane, because we didn't get anything for our money.

I don't know how big your child is, but when I traveled with one of my kids when he was 2 years old (he was small for his age), I didn't use any kind of seat or restraint. Because they thought he was younger than 2 based on his size, I was permitted to hold him during take offs and landings, which worked very well for us. We liked having the extra space that not using a car seat provided to us.

[Anonymous]

we traveled to Sweden when DD was 2 and paid about 1/2 price for her ticket - she had an assigned seat. We traveled again this past spring to the middle east and DD was 4 1/2 and DS nearly 2. We paid 3/4 adult fare for the kids' seats.

[Anonymous]

PP here - I had the CARES harness for the Sweden trip, and didn't end up using it at all. I just used the airline seatbelt for the kids. It was enough.

[Anonymous]

It's been a few years, so maybe policies have changed, but I remember that when our child was under 2 (and not required to have a seat) there were cheaper fares if we bought him a seat. I can't remember if those cheaper fares showed up on the fare search sites or if you had to call to get them though.

We have often brought our car seat because we wanted it during our trip, but for a largish 2 year old, you could probably get by with just using seatbelts.

[Anonymous]

We found that with a child that age, it's best NOT to bring the carseat onboard for a long flight like that. The kid will want and NEED to move around and you are stuck with that seat if you bring it on (gate check it). We did bring a sit n stroll on our travels (not on the plane). It was nice to push it to a taxi cab or whatever. That said, in India, you would need to arrange a car with seat belts in the back in advance. My experience in Delhi was that we just sat in traffic all the time and never exceeded 5 MPH (esp at Diwalii).... But out on the highways, I would sure want a car seat and seat belts.

[Anonymous]

Just to throw an opposite point of view out there - we have generally brought the car seat with us if possible and prefer it. *However* our DD is generally really happy in her car seat and will actually stay still in it / take naps in it for long periods of time, therefore it really works to make the trip easier on us, even if she does spend part of the trip climbing over us / on it / walking the aisles. So like many things, I imagine this is very kid-dependent.

And FWIW, we bring out 2nd seat with us when we travel - it's a Cosco Scenera, and while it has high safety ratings, it is REALLY light, so much easier to schlep around the airport, into the plane, into taxis, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have traveled a few times in the past few months (domestically) with my 11 month old. We got him his own seat and it was full fare.

[Anonymous]

Not applicable for your trip to India, necessarily, but some airlines do offer discounted seats for kids under 2. On SW I think the tickets were about $100 cheaper for our cross-country flight for DD who was 1 at the time. You have to call the airline to buy the ticket though- you can't do it online. I think some other airlines do this as well. I would definitely call whatever airline you are thinking of flying on to double-check, at least.