Safe air travel w/out a seat?

japtous · Jan 20, 2011

We'll be flying from Japan to the US in a few months with our daughter who will be about 10 months old. We will not have a carseat with us. We are currently borrowing one from a friend and will purchase one of our own upon return to the US. I had intended for her to be a "lap baby", but after reading about safety for infants during air travel, I'm not so sure I want to go that way now. I haven't checked the price of another seat, and I'm not sure if we will be able to afford it, but i want to keep our daughter safe! Is there anything else other than a carseat, that she could use? Would having her in her baby carrier during take off and landing, and as much as we could during flight, help at all??

mylittlet · Jan 20, 2011

Hopefully someone else will also reply. But most of the flying harnesses are not allowed during take off and landings or while taxi. Do you have a carseat now? We always recommend using your child's seat on the plane.

There is a CARES harness but it is for forward facing children that are older. So, it wouldn't work for her.

Also, what airline are you flying? Some none American airlines don't allow carseats. So, that info would help.

mommycat · Jan 20, 2011

pippi2077 said:
Hopefully someone else will also reply. But most of the flying harnesses are not allowed during take off and landings or while taxi. Do you have a carseat now? We always recommend using your child's seat on the plane.

Yes, this is what I thought. I recently looked at the Baby B'Air instructions and take-off/landing was not allowed - in a situation where you could have loading direction similar to a car (forward) the harness would potentially place your baby at risk of getting crushed by the parent - I'm almost sure this is the reasoning. For in-flight turbulence or just to keep baby contained without having to hold on constantly a wrap or harness might help. ETA many baby carriers would not be ideal since they don't "hold on" to the baby. My Snuggli said to not lean over because of the chance of the fall hazard, so it would probably not do so well in a severe bump of turbulence, either. I also much prefer to see children use their seats if possible, though.

It's too bad that she will still be too little for the CARES harness.

wendytthomas · Jan 20, 2011

Make sure when you call for ticket prices you mention she's an infant. Some airlines still do international prices for babies. It may be 90% of the adult's, but that's 10% you don't need to pay.

I would never want to do such a long flight without a place to put her. Nevermind the safety even. Try sitting on your couch with her for 16 hours, getting up every couple of hours to walk around your house. Now imagine stressed out people watching you while you do it. Ten months is hard. They want to move and they don't understand why they can't. But the carseat they know.

Can you get a carseat to bring with you, if the airline allows one?

Wendy

LISmama810 · Jan 20, 2011

Definitely check with the airline for pricing and also for their rules regarding car seat use. If it's an airline based in the US, they have to let you use a car seat. Foreign airlines vary.

Also, you mentioned that you're going to buy a car seat when you get to the US. What are the logistics on that? How will you transport the baby in the meantime? Will one of you stay at the airport with the baby while the other one goes to the store? Will you order one ahead of time and have someone meet you at the airport with it?

japtous · Jan 21, 2011

We were planning on ordering a seat and having a family member meet us at the airport with it installed in their car. We cannot take the seat we have now with us - it belongs to a friend who is letting us borrow it while she is here. I suppose we could look into buying a seat for her here... but they do not have the same seats that I would consider buying back home, namely, the Complete Air 65 or the Radian XTSL. I can look into it further. Japanese cars are much too small to fit a convertible that size.

gigi · Jan 21, 2011

Why not buy a cocorro (assuming they are basically the same as they are here) and bring it back for use as a secondary seat here?

japtous · Jan 21, 2011

I think the Cocorros are about the same, not sure about how they attach though, since Japanese cars are different than American ones. That's a good idea though, I'll mention it to my husband and see... We will only have one car back in the US, but it might be good to have one in grandma's, and one that will fit a newborn better than the taller convertibles, in case we have another child. Thanks for the suggestion!

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