Re: CARES

Re: CARES

Hello
I am travelling to Greece via Delta/Air France in December and have a question about seat options for my son (who will be 2 1/2 when travelling) in case I am not able to take his Marathon. Is the CARES harness the only thing out there?

Thank you

Re: CARES

babysafe34 said:

Hello
I am travelling to Greece via Delta/Air France in December and have a question about seat options for my son (who will be 2 1/2 when travelling) in case I am not able to take his Marathon. Is the CARES harness the only thing out there?

Thank you

Click to expand...

The CARES harness is not a carseat. It is simply a harness that can be used on an airplane. You can not use it in a vehicle. I would suggest buying a lighter carseat such as a scenera or a travel friendly seat like the radian to take in case you need to travel in a vehicle once you get to Greece.

Re: CARES

Which airline will you actually be flying on? Just to let you know, Air France approves the CARES harness while they're sticky about which seats they accept. I've had my American car seats removed from Air France flights (grrrrr!)

If your baby is under 2 years old, they make you use one of those dangerous "belly belts" and actually remove the child from the car seat. No safety logic there!

Also, on a side note, Air France lets you take your stroller to the door of the aircraft but you wont see it again until baggage claim at your destination. You have to make do on your connection without. It would probably be the same with a car seat.

Really try to avoid flying Air France (I do and I live in France!)

Re: CARES

How much does he weigh? If he is (will be) over 35 lbs. I would seriously consider a CARES and a Ride Safer Travel Vest to ensure that you won't have to deal with checking a car seat (and possibly having it lost or damaged...) If not, maybe we can help you brainstorm ways to get your seat safely to your destination if you tell us what seat(s) you have, and what your transportation situation will be like when you get there.

Re: CARES

Thanks for your responses. Funny, Eclipspearl mentioned Air France and that's what I"ll be travelling on for the second leg of the flight (domestic flight is Delta)! Do you know if they accept the Marathon?

I didn't write it clearly but I am taking the Marathon (because we have no carseats at destination) but was trying to figure out whether to bring it on board or check it. I will have to weigh him but I think he might be just at or under 35 pounds. Isn't the minimum age 3 for using the vest? If so, is there a developmental reason why child needs to be age 3 even if meeting the weight requirement? By the way, I didn't even think about using the CARES/vest combo- what an excellent idea! If he is at least 35 pounds and it turns out doesn't have to be at least 3, I may try that. We'll be in Greece for a month though and probably be in a car often. I guess it's safe enough for more than just occasional use?

I should also mention that I have a baby who will be 10 mos old at time of travel. I need to weigh her too because she is on the verge of outgrowing her BabyTrend infant carseat. I have been waiting to see the outcome of another post regarding possible cracks on Frontiers before deciding whether to get that or the Nautilus for my son and then handing the MA down to my daughter. At destination I think we're hoping to get away with using the infant car seat for baby and MA for toddler (or MA for infant and CARES/vest for toddler if he can). For the flight she will be a lap baby but if there is an extra seat and we end up bringing the MA on board I would try to put her in that. But if she has outgrown her infant car seat and we decide not to use CARES/vest for my toddler, then I would have to bring a Frontier/Nauti/Scenera. Is the reason you recommend Scenera because it is inexpensive in case it gets damaged by the time we return from the trip? Is it lighter/ easier to carry around and install than the Nauti/Frontier?

My husband was thinking we should just baggage check the carseats (I read on a post that gate checking is no more gentle than counter checking- is that true?). He thinks the seat won't do much good if the airplane crashes, and that for turbulence, the airline seatbelts should be good enough? So in other words, bring nothing on board. I"m hoping to get away with not taking seats too as we have short layovers and will probably have lots of stuff to carry around. But of course I don't want to ignore our kids' safety.

I"m so sorry for the long post. Thank you for your patience and for caring! I look forward to ANY suggestions from this wonderful group.

Re: CARES

Good luck finding any information on Air France and what car seats they accept. They've always told me "no" but I didn't have a Marathon. The Marathon is not sold here in France so I doubt it. No higher harnessed seats are sold, except maybe handicapped seats but I wouldn't know...

Checking car seats in as baggage is a bad idea. Who knows how they treat them and what would you do in Greece if they don't make it on your connection? You not only have a connection but are changing airlines. It's risky...

Gate-checking is supposedly gentler but no guarantee. If they're taken down with the wheelchairs, we would hope so! Logically, it's less likely that the seat will end up being "mis-routed" since it's usually loaded directly and last. I'd take that chance over gate-checking.

Your husband is simply wrong about an accident. More people survive accidents than die in them these days so not having your child pulled from your arms and thown in forward impact is definitely a good idea. The plane is doing about 200km an hour on the runway. Would you hold your child in your lap in a car going that fast? The truth is that children have died in accidents who could have lived if they had been strapped in a car seat and those who actually survived because they were. Statistics? No. First, air travel is so safe that it boils down to individual incidents. The airlines don't share those details because of tact and the possibility of lawsuits. You wouldn't want that info made public if it were your relatives!

When you hold your child on your lap, it's because you're super confident in the safety of air travel and if you look at the numbers, you're right! The chances of anything going wrong are very slim. I flew for a living for 13 years and my heart never quickened (three very minor incidents-not life threatening!). Lost luggage? Now that's more likely You can wash out your undies in the sink but improvising when you don't have a car seat is another matter...