CARES harness question

So what age is the cares harness ideal for, prodded they fall within the weight range? 4?

Or is no one on this site big fans of it period.

Mostly curios because I saw a pic online of a kid in it that was around 1.

By the time I think it's appropriate for most kids, most of them would probably do just as well in the seatbelt alone. The one thing I found it good for was sleep support (when you reclined the plane seat a bit.) Some kids with special needs get good use out of it.

So I'm considering buying my daughter a seat, instead of just hoping there are extras.

I'm reading some of these airplane install threads and I'm confused how the car seat gets installed in a plane, and I'm sure it's because we use latch in our cars and I've never looked up seat belt installation (which I definitely will, trust me). People keep referring to the buckle being in their back or that they end up sitting on the buckle. Is there a way to avoid that? Our airplane seat/2nd seat is an Evenflo Sure ride DLX, if that matters. And my daughter will be 20 months then and she's already 28 pounds, and our trip is roughly 3 weeks away.

I know I need to look up the diagram in the book, but please give me a clue until I can find it.

The airplane install is going to be the same as a lap-only belt install. If she is rear-facing, the buckle will be under her legs, rather than behind her. Most kids don't mind the buckle behind their backs. If you end up needing to forward face because you can't fit it rear-facing, and it bothers her, you could always just put a very small towel or blanket or something behind her to pad it. It's a no-no in cars, but on planes, if you end up needing the seat to restrain her in an emergency situation, it's not going to make the same kind of difference.

Also, if you find that the seat is difficult to install on the plane because of where the buckle is located, ask your flight attendant for a seatbelt extender.

If you look at the seating chart for your flights online and see that there are a ton of seats still open, then you may have a decent chance of being able to use an open seat for your daughter if she's traveling as a lap child. If there aren't a ton of seats still open, then chances are she'll be sitting on your lap. Also, while most airlines will allow you to install a lap child's carseat in an empty seat next to you, there are some that will not. I know US Airways was notorious in the past for refusing to let people do this -- don't know what the policy is now since American bought them. It's a good idea to call your airline and ask what their policy is. Other airlines' operations manuals specifically say that parents ARE permitted to install a lap child's carseat if space allows. Totally depends on the company, and as far as I know there's no list out there of who does and who doesn't. Anyway, if you take the chance and do fly with her as a lap child, the gate agent is your best resource for being reseated next to an empty seat. It's best to approach the agent as early as possible about this, before they're busy with other passengers and trying to get the flight boarded and sent off.

Safety aside for the moment... Flying with a child between 1 and 2, who is walking, on your lap is seldom fun. They generally don't want to be there and it makes for a very long flight for you and for them. If your flights appear to be pretty full and a 2nd ticket isn't prohibitively expensive, it's money very well spent.

As for gate checking a seat... I do it, not all the time but often enough that many people would cringe and shriek. We've never put it in any sort of bag, just pull the straps tight, wind up the excess and make sure it's well secured with a rubber band. And maybe we've just been super lucky, but we have never seen damage on the seat when we've gotten it back -- and yes, we do check over it carefully! In thousands of hours of flying, I have never seen a ramp agent throw a car seat. I've also never seen one fall from a cart, though I've heard stories. My reason for not putting it in a bag is that I want it to be good and obvious that it is a CARSEAT, and if there's a bag I could picture a ramp agent just grabbing the bag someplace, realizing how heavy or awkward it is and dropping it or handling it weird, but if it's out of a bag there are only so many ways you can hold the thing. I don't know. Clearly a lot of people have seen damage from gate checking carseats, so every parent needs to make her own decision.

FWIW I find the CARES useless. My kids either need a harnesses (because they are too small for the lap belt or too immature to not fiddle with the buckle) or can sit properly without unbuckling (CARES doesn't keep lap belt in position or prevent kid from unbuckling).

minimalistmama said:

Also, if you find that the seat is difficult to install on the plane because of where the buckle is located, ask your flight attendant for a seatbelt extender.

If you look at the seating chart for your flights online and see that there are a ton of seats still open, then you may have a decent chance of being able to use an open seat for your daughter if she's traveling as a lap child. If there aren't a ton of seats still open, then chances are she'll be sitting on your lap. Also, while most airlines will allow you to install a lap child's carseat in an empty seat next to you, there are some that will not. I know US Airways was notorious in the past for refusing to let people do this -- don't know what the policy is now since American bought them. It's a good idea to call your airline and ask what their policy is. Other airlines' operations manuals specifically say that parents ARE permitted to install a lap child's carseat if space allows. Totally depends on the company, and as far as I know there's no list out there of who does and who doesn't. Anyway, if you take the chance and do fly with her as a lap child, the gate agent is your best resource for being reseated next to an empty seat. It's best to approach the agent as early as possible about this, before they're busy with other passengers and trying to get the flight boarded and sent off.

Safety aside for the moment... Flying with a child between 1 and 2, who is walking, on your lap is seldom fun. They generally don't want to be there and it makes for a very long flight for you and for them. If your flights appear to be pretty full and a 2nd ticket isn't prohibitively expensive, it's money very well spent.

As for gate checking a seat... I do it, not all the time but often enough that many people would cringe and shriek. We've never put it in any sort of bag, just pull the straps tight, wind up the excess and make sure it's well secured with a rubber band. And maybe we've just been super lucky, but we have never seen damage on the seat when we've gotten it back -- and yes, we do check over it carefully! In thousands of hours of flying, I have never seen a ramp agent throw a car seat. I've also never seen one fall from a cart, though I've heard stories. My reason for not putting it in a bag is that I want it to be good and obvious that it is a CARSEAT, and if there's a bag I could picture a ramp agent just grabbing the bag someplace, realizing how heavy or awkward it is and dropping it or handling it weird, but if it's out of a bag there are only so many ways you can hold the thing. I don't know. Clearly a lot of people have seen damage from gate checking carseats, so every parent needs to make her own decision.

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Does the seatbelt extender sometimes make it so the belt doesn't tighten enough?

Sorry for my dumb questions, but I just want to know the possibilities so that I know what to expect, or at least the possibilities of what to expect, so I don't look like a doofus not knowing what I'm doing. I don't need the attendants meddling in my business more than they have to, and adding to the stress of flying. LOL. I mean if they have to, they have to, and that's fine, but I want to be confident and all that.

I know I need to take that seat out of our truck and practice with the seat belt. Now I just need to figure out if I'm going to RF or FF her. The FAA site makes it sound like FF is my only option since she is >20 pounds.

That's just an (outdated) recommendation. FAA regulations say that as long as the child fits the seat rear facing the parent may install it rear facing.

ketchupqueen said:

That's just an (outdated) recommendation. FAA regulations say that as long as the child fits the seat rear facing the parent may install it rear facing.

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THANKS a million for all your help. I'll go look that up and print it for that day. Though, that seems like such a basic rule, you'd think any flight attendant would know that. How complicated can that be for them. Geesh.

And for the record, I also looooove ketchup. When I ask for "a lot" from fast food places (ie, Sonic mostly) they bring like 5 packets. Then I always get goofy looks when I ask for more ketchup. My daughter has started to acquire the same taste. LOL.

minimalistmama said:

Also, if you find that the seat is difficult to install on the plane because of where the buckle is located, ask your flight attendant for a seatbelt extender.

If you look at the seating chart for your flights online and see that there are a ton of seats still open, then you may have a decent chance of being able to use an open seat for your daughter if she's traveling as a lap child. If there aren't a ton of seats still open, then chances are she'll be sitting on your lap. Also, while most airlines will allow you to install a lap child's carseat in an empty seat next to you, there are some that will not. I know US Airways was notorious in the past for refusing to let people do this -- don't know what the policy is now since American bought them. It's a good idea to call your airline and ask what their policy is. Other airlines' operations manuals specifically say that parents ARE permitted to install a lap child's carseat if space allows. Totally depends on the company, and as far as I know there's no list out there of who does and who doesn't. Anyway, if you take the chance and do fly with her as a lap child, the gate agent is your best resource for being reseated next to an empty seat. It's best to approach the agent as early as possible about this, before they're busy with other passengers and trying to get the flight boarded and sent off.

Safety aside for the moment... Flying with a child between 1 and 2, who is walking, on your lap is seldom fun. They generally don't want to be there and it makes for a very long flight for you and for them. If your flights appear to be pretty full and a 2nd ticket isn't prohibitively expensive, it's money very well spent.

As for gate checking a seat... I do it, not all the time but often enough that many people would cringe and shriek. We've never put it in any sort of bag, just pull the straps tight, wind up the excess and make sure it's well secured with a rubber band. And maybe we've just been super lucky, but we have never seen damage on the seat when we've gotten it back -- and yes, we do check over it carefully! In thousands of hours of flying, I have never seen a ramp agent throw a car seat. I've also never seen one fall from a cart, though I've heard stories. My reason for not putting it in a bag is that I want it to be good and obvious that it is a CARSEAT, and if there's a bag I could picture a ramp agent just grabbing the bag someplace, realizing how heavy or awkward it is and dropping it or handling it weird, but if it's out of a bag there are only so many ways you can hold the thing. I don't know. Clearly a lot of people have seen damage from gate checking carseats, so every parent needs to make her own decision.

Click to expand...

Actually, she has slept on every flight that we have ever taken. Sometimes in her infant bucket, sometimes on my lap. When we flew last she was 14 months. Slept the entire time. I even had to wake her up after we landed in our layover airport. I know I can't push my luck though. I know one of these times it will not be nearly that lucky. The worst part about holding her, especially asleep, is not being able to enjoy my own refreshments, not having a place to put said refreshments, and not being able to use the bathroom. LOL.

Actually, I'm glad I typed that. It reminded me that she has leaked her diapers a lot lately, and I should probably size up her diapers, especially for the flights themselves.

We fly Southwest. They allow use of car seats in empty seats. They prefer it, because they know that's the absolute safest anyways.

I've actually never used the seatbelt extender to install a carseat -- didn't learn about that trick until recently! Instead I've just been busting my knuckles for years trying to unbuckle our carseats... I think what I'll do next time we fly is to just mention to the lead flight attendant as we're boarding that we'll need a belt extender for one of our carseats, and then try it out. And if it doesn't fit right, hand it back to our FA later in the flight. A lot of seats don't need the extender but then you'll have it handy if the buckle ends up being in an awkward place. I haven't installed a Sureride on a plane -- I think you said that's what you have? The issue for us has been our Britaxes, FF -- the buckle ends up facing up in a tight spot behind the seat, so that to unbuckle you'd have to lift the latch higher than there's room to lift it, if that makes sense. So instead, to unbuckle you have to reach in there and turn the buckle 90 degrees when the belt is already tight and then you can just barely pull the latch far enough to uncouple it.

You're lucky that your daughter has slept on all your flights! Wow! Mine hit the 1-year mark and just go antsy. And they don't even walk until well after that -- they just squirm all over the place. Urgh. And grab my Biscoff and dump my ginger ale (last time I flew with a kid on my lap I ended up with three little plastic cups' worth of ginger ale on my jeans! Because I never learn! ) and try to shove their pointy little fingers up my nose...

RF is better than FF at 20 months, if the seat fits. I doubt the FAs will give you trouble about it -- I've never had one question it beyond a curious, "Oh, does it go like that?" on a domestic airline, but it doesn't hurt to have the FAA info on you. US airlines aren't allowed to have policies against RF. The bigger question is whether the seat will fit RF -- some of Southwest's planes have the rows squeezed in pretty tight. Just try setting the seat RF first if you have a place to install it; it's usually pretty obvious then whether it's going to work or not. If so, go for it and if not, flip it FF and readjust the straps accordingly. A bulkhead seat may give you additional room front to back and be more accommodating to a RF installation -- the tradeoff in bulkhead is that the armrests are fixed, limiting installation of some seats.

Definitely, read over the manual and practice seatbelt installs -- RF and FF. Know whether you can change the recline position to install it more upright RF or not (I'm not familiar with the Sureride's rules). And if there's not an FAA sticker on the carseat itself, it helps to flag the certification page in your manual so that if the FA asks to see it as you're boarding, you can just pull it out and find it right away. If you look prepared, they're unlikely to bother you beyond that.

A sureride won't fit in a bulkhead.

You only need an extender with a closed belt path. Britax convertibles forward facing, Diono rear facing. If you have direct open access to the belt path you don't need an extender.

In this case, I think your child would be better off in a harnessed car seat for the flight, even if you weren't going to need the seat at your destination.

I'm all about traveling with as little as possible. We NEVER fly/flew with a stroller. We used Ergo carriers or wrap carriers through the airport. It keeps you hands free to deal with everything else, and there is no worry about damaging your stroller with gate check. I have seen families that wheel a stroller through the airport and even all the way down the jetway, only to clog up the line while they try to break everything down. In fact, the child was never even using the stroller...it was just a glorified shopping cart for holding all of their other things. More often than not, the parents are letting the child walk for one reason or another (it's a good time to burn off some energy before the flight, right?) and then they end up trying to hold luggage, hold a hand, and push a stroller. Too complicated for me.

If you are using the car seat on the plane, you can attach it to the handle of a rolling suitcase with relative ease (fasten the harness, slip it over a double-bar suitcase handle, and tighten the harness so it won't move). Alternately, you can slip a couple bungee cords into your carry on which can be used to attach it to the suitcase if the harness method doesn't work. Then it will wheel around with your luggage. If you don't have rolling luggage through the airport, you can slip the fastened seat harness over your arm like a large tote bag or loosen the straps and wear it like a back pack.

If you are checking the car seat, I recommend using a box with handle holds (like the box the car seat came in) and checking it at the main ticket counter. If it's a regular shape, you can even fill the extra space in the box with some of your luggage items or souvenirs, and the box protects the car seat much more than a plastic or fabric bag. If the box has handle holds it just makes it that much easier to get it from the car/bus to the ticket counter.

Hope your flight goes smoothly!

Omg. I just realized that if she ff, I'll have to change the straps for the plane, then change them back for the car. *sigh*

Angie said:

Omg. I just realized that if she ff, I'll have to change the straps for the plane, then change them back for the car. *sigh*

Click to expand...

It goes pretty quick on a Sureride. Really.

kookaburra said:

It goes pretty quick on a Sureride. Really.

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I know, I just didn't even THINK about that part. It would have dawned on me when putting her in, so no worries that I'd put her in wrong. But ya...just one more thing that didn't occur to me yet.

Bought my daughter a seat for the way back only.

Long story, but I will have hubby's help during the longest leg of the flight on the way there, and it's so early she will likely just sleep the whole way anyway. At our layover airport, hubby and I part ways for separate trips. (Short end of it: he's going for a hobby event and since I got the time off to stay home with my daughter, I decided to go see family). I will only be solo for the second part, which is right about an hour or a tad more.

I decided hubby can get a numb butt from holding her from here to our layover airport, then I'll only get a half numb butt from holding her the shorter flight. LOL. Hopefully the flight there will have extra seats that we can take her car seat on anyway. It would be nice to have hubby's help while I figure out how the car seat goes in the plane the first time. After that, I'll know how it goes and it will much easier to get it installed for subsequent flights.

Now the only thing I need to figure out is how I'm going to cart things around on the trip back home (it's in the afternoon/evening so she will have lots of energy and be extra wiggly...contributing to my decision to buy her a seat). We have a 3 hour layover (ideal since it'll be dinner time for her anyway) so I need to figure out how I'm going to carry her car seat and if I am going to want the stroller during the layover. I've gotten lots of great input here, so I just need to decide how to tackle it exactly. Thinking about buying a luggage cart while I'm visiting family and using that for the flight home, and gate checking the stroller the whole way. Now I just need to find threads discussing that so I know what to buy and how to get it secured.

Thanks everyone!!!

Heck, if I didn't neeeeed the stroller to contain my daughter while securing the car seat in the rental car, I'd just get a cheap stroller when I get there and leave it at my mom's.

What does your daughter weigh? That often comes into play when trying to figure out logistics through the airport.

How long do you estimate it'll take you to install her carseat in the rental car? And what type of car is it? We usually travel without a stroller, and if we have a wiggly little one we set them down on the floor near us with some toys; usually the novelty of being allowed to play in the car is enough to get us at least a couple of minutes. Once the seat is installed you're golden -- strap her in, and then you have as much time as you need to load everything else.

If there are things (stroller, luggage cart) you plan to buy at your destination, I'm a big fan of ordering them ahead and having them sent, so they're waiting when I arrive and I don't have to spend my visit out shopping.

As of a couple weeks ago she was 28 pounds.

I don't know how long it will take me to get the car seat installed. I remember being totally frustrated last time because I almost got the strap twisted as I pulled it (the latch strap). I think it started to and I couldn't get the seat super super super tight.

And yes, I love shipping stuff there too, we have a Prime membership through Amazon so I can have it shipped right to my mom's. I already have ordered a bunch of everyday use stuff and had it shipped there. I almost ordered a luggage cart last night to have shipped there but didn't pull that trigger yet.