Flying/rental car with 5 year old

DisneylandMom

New member
We are still a couple years away from this vacation....but I am an uber-planner...ha!

We have flown twice with our son before....17 months old and 3 and half. For the first trip we used the Cosco Scenera on plane and in rental car. Second time we used the Evenflo Maestro on airplane and in rental car. Both worked really well. My son has autism and is non-verbal. I feel like being in a regular car seat helped him to sit better on the flights (though he did kick the seat in front a bit...ugh.)

Our next trip won't be until late 2018 or early 2019. He will be around 5 years (and a couple months) old at that time. Currently he is around 40-41 inches tall and 36 pounds or so.

I know that by our next trip, he can likely sit safely on the airplane using the belt. But we will need a car seat in our rental car. I feel 5 is still quite young for a booster (correct?) so I would prefer to use the Maestro again. But I worry he'll be too big to also use it on the airplane. I do NOT want to check or gate check it.

So what would you guys do in this situation?
 
ADS

Dillipop

Well-known member
I would wait until closer to the trip and see if he still fits. If he doesn't, there might be a new awesome seat on the market that would work well for your trip. A year and a half to 2 years can mean a lot of new products to consider.
 

DisneylandMom

New member
Well, I would prefer to not buy something new unless it's super cheap like a backless booster or something. We have already purchased 5 car seats for our one child. I am hoping we won't have to purchase yet another product we only use on one vacation.

He will still fit in the maestro, in general. But I wasn't sure if people ever brought car seats on the plane for kids that old.
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
Well, I would prefer to not buy something new unless it's super cheap like a backless booster or something. We have already purchased 5 car seats for our one child. I am hoping we won't have to purchase yet another product we only use on one vacation.

He will still fit in the maestro, in general. But I wasn't sure if people ever brought car seats on the plane for kids that old.

Ok. I think I misunderstood your original question.

Yes, I take car seats on the plane for children that still use a harness. Once my kids transition to boosters, they use the plane seat.
 

DisneylandMom

New member
Ok. I think I misunderstood your original question.

Yes, I take car seats on the plane for children that still use a harness. Once my kids transition to boosters, they use the plane seat.

If they use the plane seat but still need some sort of restraint in the car...what do you use for them?

So it's not completely outside the realm of possibility to have a 5 year old sit on an Evenflo Maestro on an airplane?
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
Once my kids are out of a harness, which for us has been around age 6, we take backless boosters and take them on the plane with is and stow them under the seat. Until then, they sit in their harness seat on the plane.

I also have a couple ride safer travel vests which we've used for kids between 5 and 10, depending on what kind of driving we're doing when we get there.
 

rachelandtyke

Well-known member
We will be flying with my almost 5 year old, and she will be sitting in her normal convertible car seat on the plane. I'd have him use the Maestro without a second thought.
 

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