Should we use car seats

We are heading to Colorado next week - flying Milwaukee to Minneapolis to Denver to Durango - yes, that is three planes, both ways. (Don't ask!) We were not planning to take the car seats, we have some rented with our rental car but I recenly flew for work and was concerned about not brining their seats.

The girls are little, only 23lbs - they are 2 years and 2 months, I think they will get lost in the big airplane seat. I also think they might be more willing to stay put in their car seat. I also think they may sleep in their car seat.

My concern is lugging their Britax seats on and off three planes and dragging them through the airports. Is it worth it?

What if you experience with or without car seats?

 

Mine sleep in their car seats but have never slept on a plane, despite my dearest hopes that they would. If you think yours would, it might be worth it. However, with so many plane changes, I think I would try for something different.

Here is a site where you can rent the CARES toddler harness for $20 for 30 days. Maybe that would be an option? I think that will be what I will try next time we fly with the boys.

Good luck and have a great trip!!

 

With that many plane changes, I would not take the car seats. I did use one when I flew alone with Sarah at 23 months, and I was glad I had it, for the same reasons you mentioned -- but it was a long flight (with one connection), and the hardest part by far was getting on & off the plane. Also, the Denver to Durango flight, at least (I don't know about Milwaukee to Minneapolis) is likely to be on a small plane. The car seat would probably still fit in the plane seat, but there might be nowhere to stash the wheels, and the aisle will be very narrow -- it would be a big hassle for a one-hour flight. In your situation, I'd go with the CARES harnesses instead.

 

We've flown a lot and my two are small. We are still rear-facing even in our car seats. My DD is about 23.6 lbs and DS is about 27 lbs at 28 months. We've flown more than 40 times since they were born and I always take the car seat. I think the main thing is the familiarity of the car seat. There's a lot of commotion about traveling - security, all the people, the planes, etc and I like to think that a familiar car seat makes the trip easier (but I am also the mother that packs their booster seats for eating in their suitcases so that they have that as a familiar setting as well).

They've slept in them on planes but not often. It is a hassle taking them off and on the plane, no doubt about it. It is easier now that they can walk on their own down the aisle. It's still a pain putting the seat belt through the car seat. I looked at the CARES harness and I think I will try it when they are older. My two are right at the lower end of the weight limit and are petite and I have read that some people think that the chest strap comes up too close to the throat area in smaller children.

With three segments each way...I'd be mulling it over like you. I'd probably still end up lugging my car seats because it has worked for me in the past.

I always try to tell the children what to expect along the way and try to make it as interesting and exciting as possible -- taking off shoes at security, looking for dogs in the airport, watching the planes taking off, watching the pilot do the preflight check list, loading the bags, etc.

Good luck with your flight(s)!

Sotto

 

Don't bring your car seats! I just flew across country with my two girls who are 24 and 25 pounds. We didn't bring car seats and oh my gosh... I was so glad we didn't. Getting two toddlers on and off the airplane was complicated enough; I can't imagine lugging two car seats as well.

I bought the CARES harnesses for my girls and they worked great. I 100% recommend them. (I feel like a commercial, but truly, the harnesses are that fantastic)

I completely agree with you that your girls are so little they'll swim in the airplane seats. On our Southwest flights, I couldn't even cinch the seatbelts tightly around my daughters because my girls were smaller than the seatbelt. The CARES harnesses helped so much because my girls were securely contained with both the lap belt and over the shoulder straps. I also found an unexpected bonus. Because the harness fit them similar to the carseat, my girls sat without fussing or asking to get out of the seat. And they napped too!

Edited to add: Sotto referenced a concern about where the chest strap hits. My girls are on the small end of the weight range for the CARES harness and the chest strap fit them OK. I did notice that if I cinched the shoulder straps as tight as I could, it would cause the seatbelt to ride up and the chest strap became too high. As a result, I relaxed the shoulder straps so they fit snugly but not quite as tight as our regular car seat straps. This alleviated the potential chest strap issue but still held the girls tight enough that they couldn't slip out.

 

I did the same thing (and mine were bigger when we used them -- about 36" tall and 28 lbs). They didn't complain about it being uncomfy, but I noticed that if I tightened the shoulder strap as much as I would with a carseat, it seemed to dig into their necks. However, the CARES harness isn't meant to hold them as snugly as a carseat anyway. It's just supposed to keep them from flying up into the air if there's turbulence.

I also agree that they fidgeted a lot less with the CARES harnesses than they did when they were just in the airplane seatbelts. It was like it didn't really occur to them to want to get down, sit backwards, etc.

 

I am another vote for not bringing the car seats on the plane. My girls are small, only 23 and 28 pounds at 3 years and they have been flying without car seats for over a year. We had a HORRIBLE flight where all they did was kick the seats in front of them and from that point on no car seats. We are flying next month and with our short connection I could not imagine trying to deal with the kids, all our stuff, getting them and car seats off the plane and then running with all that stuff to the next gate. My girls are great fliers (knock on wood) and are great at keeping their lap belt fastened the entire flight.

 

I would lean more towards NOT taking them. We flew with ours and didn't take the carseats....rather rented them when we got to our destination. My concern was having enough hands to be able to cart everything in the airport. I think you will have enough stuff and kids to keep up with. I wouldn't add to it by lugging carseats. That harness that Erin mentioned sounds like it might be worth a try. I would certainly consider it. Especially since you are changing planes.

 

Thanks for all the input - we are looking at renting the CARES harness.

 

We are traveling with the twins in November and reading this has been very helpful... I had previously been set on lugging the carseats. But the CARES seems like a reasonable option. WHen I tried to click on the link, I got to the website but not where it gave you information on rentals. Then when trying to search, nothing popped up.. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!!