What do you do with your carseat on a plane?

U

Unregistered

Guest
For kids 3+, who are not too likely to sleep on short flights, do you check their carseats or bring them on the plane? If you bring them on the plane do you put them into the child's seat or do you "gate check" them like a stroller? I am wondering (a) do carseats get damaged easily if they are checked with luggage (or "gate checked") and (b) is there a significant, meaningful benefit to having an older child sitting in a carseat on a plane (as opposed to being buckled in with airplane seatbelt)?
Thanks.
 
ADS
N

NVMBR02

New member
If I am bringing the carseat with me I install it, even for short trips. I know I have had a lot of luggage damaged, including strollers that were gate checked. It is not a risk that I am comfortable taking.

If I had a child that was 4ish, and had a seat lined up at my destination or did not need a carseat at the other end I would be comfortable with having the child in just the airplane seatbelt. My oldest fit well in a airplane lapbelt shortly before turing 4 and she is tall and thin. My 4 year old fit okay at 3 1/2 but couldn't sit still for very long. Now at 4 1/2 I would be comfortable without the carseat, provided we werent bring the seat with us.
 
J

Jan06twinmom

New member
If I'm traveling with the car seats, I'm taking them on the plane. After all of my research, I really think the primary reason for taking a seat on the plane is to make sure that the seat is not lost or damaged. Like the pp said, if you have a car seat at your destination then I would consider not traveling with the seat at all.

Children will be safer in their car seat if there is severe turbulence or another major problem. However, statisitically, it's much more likely that your checked car seat will be lost or damaged if you check it.

When my twins are in booster seats, I'll probably take the nbb on the plane as a carry on and put the back part of the booster in our packed luggage.

Melanie
 
T

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Last time we flew my kids were 4.5, almost 3, and 10 mos. All of them had their seats on the plane. This time they'll be weeks from 7, 5.5, 3.5, and 14 mos. The younger 2 will have seats on board, the older 2 will not since they will not have harnessed seats.
 
vonfirmath

vonfirmath

New member
The one time we gate checked the car seat and stroller -- they lost the car seat and damaged the stroller. I still have to gate check my strollers, but I take the car seats on now.
 
ketchupqueen

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I once saw them tossing seats (and strollers) down from the plane onto the tarmac that had been gate checked. Twice, the person catching missed, and just picked up the dropped item, brushed it off, and stuck it on the cart. No note was made that it had been dropped or anything. There could easily have been hidden damage that could cause potentially life-threatening failure in a crash. It really confirmed for me that I will ALWAYS use the seat on the plane if it's coming with us (and that for kids under 2 I will always buy a ticket to be assured that I can!)
 
AtTheSouthDam

AtTheSouthDam

New member
I take it on the plane. My child (the older was in a booster the first time she flew) is used to having to sit still in her car seat. Using it on the plane means she has little desire to stand up, crawl around and bug the other passengers :D If I put her in a lap belt, which she has only ever used at the kitchen table, she may have viewed it as "optional" and we would have had many more arguements. As it was other passengers commented on how well behaved my daughter was in her car seat. She was 3y3m last time we flew.
Plus all the above stated reasons.
 
Nimommyof2

Nimommyof2

New member
Well I'm the person who just had a radian broken on the flight so definitly would not want to check it. Also just to add while at the specialty baby store in Fort Mac seeing if they had Radians in stock to replace the one the airline broke the lady at the store told me how another lady had just been in there and the airport had snapped the handles off her stroller.
 

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