quick airport shuttle?

We'll be traveling shortly. There are lots of parameters that I'll put together in a separate thread. For now, just another quick question. Part of our plan now is to go to an airport hotel the night before the trip due to an early flight. We'll leave our car parked there. There is a shuttle that will take us to and from the airport. I've called, and they say it is a 6 minute, about 2 mile drive. There are seatbelts which they think are lap belts. What do you usually do here? There would be no time to install something, even if it was compatible. I think that this is the same issue with shuttles within the airport, e.g. to rental car facilities. (It may be slightly different than ones that go from home to the airport.) In theory I suppose DH could drop us off and re-park, but that would cause significant logistical issues with getting to the plane, and I'm not sure it's worth it. If it helps, DD's are 5 and a very skinny 4. I have an RSTV2, but am assuming there is no tether for it. I'm thinking that the kids will be in the lap belts or unrestrained, though I don't love either option. Assume for now that we don't need car seats at our destination.

Thank you in advance for your input!

If either of the kids are less than 40 lbs, I’d recommend considering bringing a car seat for them at least for the flights. I’d consider installing it on shuttles too, if possible -- we've done it while the driver is loading bags in the back. I won’t say we’ve never had kids sitting in just lap belts in airport vans — or even unrestrained on the bus-type ones… but it’s not fun and I’d not recommend it. A carseat will travel pretty easily as long as it’s relatively narrow and can be strapped to a rolling bag for transport through the airport.

If there’s a chance there’ll be lap/shoulder belts (hotel vans often have them at the window seats — you could call ahead and ask to speak with a shuttle driver), then for whomever is at least 40 lbs I’d bring a belt positioning booster. Harmony youth booster and BubbleBum are both super easy to travel with. You of course couldn’t use any of these on the plane, but using them on a shuttle would take barely any time at all.

I haven't used a RSTV but think it requires a top tether anchor? Shuttle drivers are less likely to know whether that's available.

It sounds like it would be worth pressing the hotel a little bit to get more reliable details on what type of vehicle is used and what kind of seatbelts it has. I've taken a few hotel shuttles recently (by myself, not with kids) and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had lap-shoulder belts in almost all seating positions. If that is the case for you, I would probably bring two backless boosters for the kids to use -- possibly Bubble Bums or Boostapaks that would be easy to manage. (This is assuming that they meet the minimum size requirements, though there are at least a few backless boosters that start at 30 lbs.).

If that is not going to work, I think what I personally would do is leave a half-hour earlier than planned, drive everyone to the airport and drop off the stuff, then go back to the hotel and park the car and catch the shuttle solo. We have used a similar approach in the past; sometimes it is even possible to do curbside check-in so that the heavier bags can be dropped off.

minimalistmama said:

If either of the kids are less than 40 lbs, I’d recommend considering bringing a car seat for them at least for the flights. I’d consider installing it on shuttles too, if possible -- we've done it while the driver is loading bags in the back. I won’t say we’ve never had kids sitting in just lap belts in airport vans — or even unrestrained on the bus-type ones… but it’s not fun and I’d not recommend it. A carseat will travel pretty easily as long as it’s relatively narrow and can be strapped to a rolling bag for transport through the airport.

If there’s a chance there’ll be lap/shoulder belts (hotel vans often have them at the window seats — you could call ahead and ask to speak with a shuttle driver), then for whomever is at least 40 lbs I’d bring a belt positioning booster. Harmony youth booster and BubbleBum are both super easy to travel with. You of course couldn’t use any of these on the plane, but using them on a shuttle would take barely any time at all.

I haven't used a RSTV but think it requires a top tether anchor? Shuttle drivers are less likely to know whether that's available.

Click to expand...

The RSTV only requires a top tether when it's a lap belt only.