air travel - seats vs CARES

We will be taking a trip by plane to visit extended family in January for 3 nights. We are two adults and two children, ages 5 and 2. We will be renting a car at our destination, and plan to bring our seats with us for the rental car. My 5yo is currently 34 pounds, 42 inches and rides harnessed in a Graco Nautilus. My 2yo is currently 29 pounds, 34 inches and rides rear-facing in a Britax Marathon. We do own one CARES harness.

Since we have to bring our seats anyway, should we just bring the seats on the plane and use them? Or should we check them (or gate-check them)? Or just check one of them? Or is checking the seats a bad idea?

I don't know if my 5yo is big enough now to fit in just the plane seatbelt. If so, she could ride in the regular seatbelt, and my 2yo could ride in the CARES harness. If not, my 5yo could ride in the CARES harness and my 2yo in her Marathon. I'm just not sure what the best configuration is.

Thanks for any advice.

Checking car seats as luggage is a really bad idea. Damage to car seats is common. The airlines wont compensate (or rarely, or badly). If your car seat gets on the wrong flight, what will you do on arrival to transport your child?

Gate-checking is better than luggage checking only because there's less chance of the seat getting "rerouted". It's loaded directly on board but they might send it down a chute or otherwise mishandle it. At least there's less time for them to mishandle it!

Yes, using them on board is the smartest way to transport them. I came off a transatlantic a few years ago with only one of my four suitcases. The car seat was with us. Dressing my youngest wasn't easy, since most of her clothes were in the missing bags, but at least she was safe on the 2 hour drive home! It took a good 3-4 days for the bags to be returned.

Are you sure the 5 year old will fit the CARES harness? It only goes to 44lbs. Check.

I would put a 5 year old in an airline seat belt alone. I have on foreign airlines that didn't allow our seat to be used on board. I also have taken car seats up to almost 6 years old. She was actually more comfortable that way.

If you opt to use a booster, and she's (or will be) booster trained, you can bring the bottom on board as a carry-on. For a high back, you could stuff that in a checked bag. Not crucial to safety if lost. You may want to just use a lbb for the trip. Know that boosters can't be used on airplanes but can be brought on board and stowed as bags.

The others might have ideas about those seats and other options but I thought I'd at least start!

If you're taking them you should use them. That way they aren't out of your sight and therefore can't be damaged or lost.

Eclipsepearl said:

Are you sure the 5 year old will fit the CARES harness? It only goes to 44lbs. Check.

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If you opt to use a booster, and she's (or will be) booster trained, you can bring the bottom on board as a carry-on. For a high back, you could stuff that in a checked bag. Not crucial to safety if lost. You may want to just use a lbb for the trip. Know that boosters can't be used on airplanes but can be brought on board and stowed as bags.

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She's only 34 pounds. She is not booster trained at all. I expect her to be harnessed for a while yet. My understanding is that she should be at least 40 pounds for a booster?

Generally, yes. We prefer to see kids hit 40lbs before they booster. However, some super-petite children won't hit 40 until, like, middle school (slight sarcasm there... but not much lol) and there is an age/maturity/bone maturity component to it, as well. Personally, I would probably start booster-training my under-40lb child at age 6. (I usually booster train at 5, if they're of sufficient size, for reference.)

As far as the seats, yes, I'd take them on the plane. I would probably go ahead and FF the 2yo on there for ease -- but as Eclipse said above, you really want to avoid checking those seats if at all possible. You could also look into picking up lightweight secondary/travel seats. (The Evenflo Maestro and Cosco Scenera are popular, and you could get them for a bit over $100, total. Just pick up a pool noodle to help with the Scenera install. )

If you search, we've had members pull together some unusual configurations for travel, involving luggage carts and bungee straps. One popular option is to use the 2yo's carseat, strapped to luggage or a luggage cart, as a stroller through the airport.

Hope that helps.

I'd bring the MA on board for the 2 yo, try out the CARES for the 5 yo, and assuming it fits, look into an RSTV for her for the three days. If the CARES doesn't fit I'd just use the lap belt at that age.

Since you're bringing their regular seats with definitely use those on the plane. The Cares harness is great if you have a seat that can't be used on the plane (like the travel vest or the GO) or if you have seats waiting for you at your destination. We have a Cares for which ever kid is using our GO (has been DD so far & DS sat in his regular carseat, but by our next trip it will be DS and we'll take a booster for DD).