Car Seats on Planes?

We will be spending 12 hours on a plane (technically, three different planes!) in Feb. with our soon-to-be 2 yr old twin boys. We bought seats for them which requires us to bring their car seats. We have Britax Marathon car seats, which seem really big when I think about trying to put them in an airplane seat! Does anyone have suggestions on traveling with two car seats?? UGH. Not sure how we're even going to lug those huge seats around, plus keep track of the twins and their older brother! And did I read somewhere that the car seats have to be installed backward facing??

I'm even considering trying to find smaller car seats just to use for this trip. Any advice out there?? I'm pretty sure the boys are not going to be willing to be strapped in their car seats much of the time, which means we will have lap babies even though we are paying for a seat!

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

~Lori

 

I wish I could help but I would love to hear responses. We hope to travel later this year to visit family and I am so confused about how to deal with the plane and car seats. I think our boys would do best being held rather than in their own seats, so I guess that would mean checking our car seats.

 

We have flown three times-twice to Italy and once to Florida. The kids were at various times: 9 months old, 3.5, 22 months old, and just recently 4 and 2.5. We have never done cars seats on the plane. We also have never needed to bring them where we were going. We went to Italy twice and used cars eats from family members. And we went to Disney and didn't need a car.

I know I have seen CARE harnesses-or something like that, mentioned on here before. Maybe those can be an option? I don't think it's a requirement to have a carseat on an airplane.

 

But what do you do when you arrive at your destination? Sounds like you used a family member's car seats but what about other times? I assume you rode in a car at some point (or maybe you were able to walk or only use a stroller?) I guess I'm also trying to figure out how we transport the boys from the airport or to/from the hotel without them.

 

When we arrived at our final destination in Italy, the family members met us at the airport. They had the carseats already installed in the car we were renting for the 2-3 weeks we were there.

Are you renting a car? You can always rent carseats as well. Although, I heard they aren't the best. However, the ones in Italy, wowzers. I was ready to buy three brand new ones. But the standards there are different-kids ride on the laps of their parents in the front seat. And forget rear facing!

If you take a shuttle, you won't need a carseat necessarily. A taxi-not sure how that works. When we took the shuttle from where we parked our car to the airport terminal, we had the boys sit down on the bench on the shuttle, and Annabella sat on our laps.

 

We have the Britax Advocate seats for our 16 month olds. I bought a the Britax travel carts for the airport since I read the Britax seats are sometimes too big for the GoGoKidz travel cart. We wheel them right up and into the plane, stow the cart and clip the seats into the airplane seat- I know, I made it sound like it was super easy! HA! The only time our carseats were backward facing on the plane was when our babies were in their infant carrier seats. They sit forward facing now. Maybe you already know this, but the airlines make you put the car seat in the window seat. When we travel my husband sits in front of me with one twin. I sit behind him in the middle seat between our 5 year old and the other twin. That setup seems to work the best from what I've tried so far. Although it is a pain, I happen to like using the carseat on the plane- particularly for the occasion when your oldest wants to visit the potty 5 times and you have to leave a twin alone, as I learned during our last trip.

Someone mentioned the CARES system in an earlier post. I used that with my now 5 year old when she was 2-3 years old. It worked great for us on the occasions where we checked the car seat. It's also nice because it fits in your purse or carry on and it harnesses your little one similar to a car seat. My daughter would fall alseep just as if she were in her carseat, which was really cool.

My most favorite item now is the Ride Safer Travel Vest. It doesn't work on the airplane, but once you get to your destination it takes the place of a bulky car seat or booster for bigger kids. I haven't used it at home, but we do use it when on vacation here and there in rental cars and cabs. It really works like a charm. Maybe it's something you want to look into when the boys get older.

Good luck! I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

You might need to check and be sure the britax marathon's will fit on an airplane seat. I have no idea, I've never worried about taking carseats when we flew, we always fly to see family and borrow a carseat from them when we get there.

However I found this that shows it attached to a marathon, so that might work and is really cheap.

Another option is buying cheaper seats from say walmart, like these, and then reselling them on Craigslist or at a consignment sale afterwards. You'll have to check to see if they'll fit on the plane, as well as make sure they are approved for use on a plane. But they are relatively cheap and if you post that you've only used them on a trip you can probably recoup over half your money in them.

As for taxi's and buses, when we flew to canada, and had to possibly take a taxi, they taxi company said carseats aren't required when you use the taxi's around the city. We also called the RCMP station and they said the same thing. So, technically, you can get away with no carseat if you use a taxi. We didn't have to, thankfully, but it's there as an option.

 

I would look into the cares harness and mail your seats to someone at your destination (hotels will receive packages). With so many transfers, you are going to hate lugging the marathons between gates and then installing them.

 

I have really strong opinions on this topic! Don't bring your car seats on the plane -- you will HATE it! Britax Marathons are not only bulky, but they're heavy too. If you have three flights, that is a ton of lugging the seats through the airports. Plus three kids? Eeek! And the biggest reason not to bring them? If you are flying on a smaller plane - they will not fit. I used to travel weekly for work and I can not tell you how many times I've watched a family lug carseats on only to find that they're too wide for the small window seat. Then they have to get back off with their kids and all their stuff and go gate check the carseats.

Car seats can only be buckled in the window seat per the FAA (so you can only have one car seat per row), but because many planes curve in, the shoulder width is slightly smaller in window seats than the middle and aisle seats. I have also seen people get their smaller car seats in fine, only to have the child kick the back of the seat in front of them the entire flight. Car seats make kids higher and also put them slightly forward, which means that little legs can reach the next seat.

Get Cares harnesses for your twins instead. They can "legally" sit in the regular plane seat with just their seatbelts, but we all know that one little strap will not hold our monkey kids. So, go with the Cares. They cost about $80 each and can be used until your kids are 45 pounds. Resale value is great so you'll make almost all of your money back. The harnesses are made of seltbelt material so it's not like they show wear and tear after a year. Or, you can rent them. Check on eBay for rentals. I think last time I saw them it was like $15 per harness for rental.

I bought Cares harnesses when my kids were two and it's been one of the best investments in child equipment I've made. I have lent them to a million friends, and used them about 15 times myself. I can't tell you how nice it is to get on the plane with just a backpack and be able to get two children buckled in by myself in about five minutes. the harnesses look like a handful of seat belts and weigh maybe 1/2 pound. My girls fall asleep just fine with the Cares harnesses - they feel just like car seats because it's shoulder straps with the chest clip.

And last but not least - check your car seats. It's quick and easy. Just drag them in to the ticket counter and check them with your regular luggage. They're free on many airlines, and two fly for the price of one bag on others. And they don't count towards your baggage allowance so if you already have two suitcases per person, it's ok.

 

I strongly recommend checking your car seats and not bringing them on the plane. Their little feet come right up against the seat in front of them, and they can't help but kick the entire time. On one flight I ended up just holding my son so he wouldn't kick, so we payed 300 bucks for a seat no one used. On the flights when we have not had car seats, it's been much better. When they get tired of sitting, they can stand in front of their seats and use their seats as play areas for toys. When they are little we just hold them in our laps during take off and landing (by the time my oldest was 2 or 3, he could use the regular seatbelt during take off and landing as long as we gave him a snack or something to help him stay still).

The airlines allow you to check your car seats for free. We have car seat covers to keep them nice during transit.

I've never used the CARES harnesses - not sure they are necessary. I assume the idea is that they are more safe than holding the child?

 

We traveled cross-country, one lay over each way, with our 18 month olds in infant carseats and loved it. We went cheap and bungeed the carseats to regular luggage wheels and used that to get us through the airport with the twins in their gate checked double umbrella stroller (larger strollers incur fees these days). The flight attendants were also really lax about the twins actually being in the carseat. As long as they were in it for take off and landing, the attendants didn't seem to mind them getting out at all other times - even when the seatbelt sign was on. I think their logic was - better to have a happy kid and happy nearby passengers than to have a screaming kid with grumpy neighbors who take it out on the attendants.

If your twins still fit their infant carseats, and you have regular sized seats waiting for you when you arrive, you may want to take the infant seats instead of your britax. We were even able to shove the carseat into the footwell and let the twin sleep across the seats at times.

If your only option is to take the big ones, when we were in the airport, we did see a mom carrying what appeared to be a full size carseat in a backpack carrier designed to fit the seat. She made it look easy AND she was shorter AND she had a toddler and a preschooler in-tow by herself. Unfortunately I forget the brand name, but I got results when I typed in "car seat packpack carrier" into Google.

Good luck.

 

i had a sit n stroll when i just had my oldest. it's a carseat, airplane seat, & wheels pop out & a handle comes up to make it a stroller. we flew with her a lot and it was so helpful!! especially with layovers and changing planes. she never had to be taken out of the seat (in theory!) of course, there are diaper changes and such. they're not cheap. we ordered one off ebay at the time. not sure how managing 2 would be, basically like 2 single strollers.
just a thought.

 

Thank you all for the valuable input!! I've never heard of the CARES restraint system before... sounds like the way to go to me. They of course get both good and bad reviews, but I think I'm willing to take my chances. We do have an overnight flight on the way home, so I'm just hoping they will be able to sleep in the harness. All I know is the thought of lugging the carseats on the plane makes me want to vomit! For those that don't know, if you purchase an airplane seat for a child under two, they are required to be in a carseat (or a CARES harness apparently). We don't even want to bother with checking our carseats, so I think we'll just rent some from the car rental agency. Typically those seats aren't the cleanest, etc., but we don't plan to do much driving once we get to our destination. Hawaii here we come!!!

Thanks again for all your comments... all very helpful!

~Lori

 

I seem to feel a little bit different. We have Marathons and fly all of the time with them (we live in Germany so 6 of these flights have been international). They are big, but they are comfortable so the girls can sleep in them. They are cumbersome, but I would prefer to struggle getting them on the plane and around the airport than have to deal with an uncomfortable toddler on a 12 hour flight!

 

We flew many, many times with our twins, the first two times as lap sitters and then with carseats later, and the carseats made it FAR better in our view! They LOVED being strapped in (it felt like the car..we gave them books, toys etc. and they LOVED it) we bungee corded the seats nested together and then my husband toted them by the "handle" the bungee created. It was a bit stressful getting the seats in the airline seats rapidly as we didn't want to hold up the boarding process (and people tend to be displeased when they see twins are on board their flight ) BUT once settled and entertained, we had minimal issues with the carseats. AND upon arrival at destination, FAR better to have the seats for car use that the kids are used to...in my view.

Try to prep as best you can, keep your stress to a minimal, ad God-willing, they'll respond in kind!

Happy Travels!