Programs: NW Plat, AA Lifetime Gold, HH Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 44
You may consider putting the seat in a clear bag (I have used clear garbage bags). This helps keep the seat clean and the bags tags can still be seen-was advised to do this by the gate agent.
You may consider putting the seat in a clear bag (I have used clear garbage bags). This helps keep the seat clean and the bags tags can still be seen-was advised to do this by the gate agent.
Babies R Us and other stores have special travel bags for car seats. Our car seat stayed clean on the inside but the bag was pretty dirty after our last set of flights. The bag also has a handle on the outside.
Here is the one we bought and it lookse big enough for most car seats (Britax Marathon is what we use) :
Programs: MR Plat, Hilton Gold, UA 2P, Hertz 5 Star, I-70 Million Miler
Posts: 605
To Car Seat or Not To Car Seat, That is the Question...
Our family of three: My wife, I and our 1 year old daughter will be going to Hawaii (PIT to LIH) this summer. Trip will be three segments in each direction and my daughter is ticketed in her own seat. My wife and I are debating the pros and cons of using the car seat on the plane. Debate is as follows:
If there is a plane crash, we're all probably toast anyway (yes morbid thought). It is a pain to lug the car seat (Britax Marathon) through the airports. Let's simplify and check the car seat and just get it when we land in Hawaii.
Vs.
If there is turbulence or other less severe problems, the car seat will keep our daughter securely anchored and help prevent injuries. Without the car seat she could easily slip out of the regular seat belt on the plane. Agreed hauling the car seat through three airports each way is a pain, but it is worth it for our daughter's safety.
For those who have done lots of traveling with Car Seats (especially large ones like the Britax Marathon) what have you done and what do you recommend? Please help us settle our debate.
Programs: La Ministreuse de Surréalisme, CO Plat, MR Plat, SPG Plat
Posts: 6,781
Take the carseat. We have the Britax Marathon and we've lugged it all over. It's heavy, it's a pain, but it gives our daughter a sense of security and she likes being able to sit up and look out the window. I feel better from a safety standpoint, and she likes sitting in it - she's used to it.
Programs: UA 1P, NW SE, Hertz #1Gold, others w/o status
Posts: 1,006
Our son is 1 year old now. (We're also near PIT.) We have now transitioned from the infant seat to the Marathon, although we haven't traveled with it yet. Our next trip, we are looking at getting something with wheels and/or straps to carry the carseat, i.e., a bag or cart designed for car seats. The bags I've seen come in styles both with or without wheels, most have backpack or other straps too to make it easier to carry thru the airport. If I recall, Amazon has a decent selection, but perhaps try a search in this forum, or another user could chime in. One advantage to the bag is that if you decide to gate-check in the middle of the trip, the seat stays a little more protected from the gorillas in the baggage pit.
By talking about bringing a car seat on board, I assume you bought her her own seat. Well done (in my opinion)! Both our kids, when they were one, were simply too small to sit in the big seat comfortably. We brought our Graco seat along everywhere and realized that having a 3 point harness really straps them in! Hard parts: getting on board early, figuring out how to attach the car seat to the plane seat, lugging the car seat everywhere, and cleaning the car seat after the trip. Great parts: a happy kid in a familiar seat, a safe place during turbulence, and a great way for me to get in shape lugging it through the airport. Plus, as I'm cheap, it saved on renting seats along with rental cars. At the airports during connections, kid went into the kiddie backpack, stroller was unfolded, and car seat along with carry-on bags got wheeled around on the stroller just fine. Personal opinion - having the car seat on board with the kid safe and having our own car seat in rental cars justified the hassle. Good luck!
Depending on the size of your toddler, you might consider the CARES harness sytem. They are a bit pricey at $75, but some enterprising person on e-Bay rent them for ~$20.
I plan to take my 3 year old from SFO to ATL this fall. I'll check the car seat (most car rental companies charge $10/day for a child seat!) and take CARES on board.
I have a 7 yr old and 4 yr old. I only just stopped using the Britax Marathon on the last trip for the 4 yr old. It is big and heavy but he understood sitting in it and couldn't get out of it. The lap belt would just be too tempting for my brood at that age and they would escape. Plus, he could sleep in it unlike the seat. His head didn't flop everywhere and I imagine the 5 pt harness helped in him feeling like he could relax his body more.
As for lugging it - what usually happened is we carried the kid or they walked and the car seat fit on the stroller along with the carryons. Not ideal, but it worked. I found the bags with wheels to be too much of a pain (drags on the ground and a hole wears in it, and it is a pain to put the car seat in it!)
For what its worth - we fly CRJ's all the time to CVG or ATL and hop on larger planes. The marathon always fit.
Does your child sleep in the car seat when you are driving? If so you are probably more likely to get some in flight napping with the car seat than without. Yes it is a pain to lug between flights (our seat is huge!) but seeing your daughter nod off in her comfy, familiar seat may make it worthwhile.
Programs: AA, CO, DL, KE Morning Calm, OZ Gold, UA
Posts: 121
Quote:
Originally Posted by Micromegas
...you are probably more likely to get some in flight napping with the car seat than without.
This would be the biggest advantage for me. Without a car seat, I'm never able to relax enought to sleep myself. Always fealling the need to keep an eye open and on my son in case of turbulence.
I have seen some kind of rolling carseat/stroller thing that would be good for flights and rent car travel.
__________________
It may not be possible to fly an airline exclusively, but it is quite easy to avoid one entirely - Vote with your feet.
Where are the car seats allowed to be placed? Only at the window? I ws planning to take the Window seat, my wife the isle seat, and my son in the middle. Is this allowed with a car seat? How much room would I have to get out, if I needed to do that?
Location: EWR-land -- You are in a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike...
Programs: CO & NW forum moderator
Posts: 19,199
The one time we used a car seat on an airplane for our kids it lifted them so high up that the lights were *always* shining in their faces. Unfortunately the seat meant less sleep, not more. Your mileage may vary.
__________________ OnePass -- Arcane rules, fine blue carpets!
I support meaningless jingoistic cliches
Wow: Star MegaDO 2009 - Tschüss
![To Car Seat or Not To Car Seat, That is the Question...[Merged Threads]](/forum/iconimages/travel-children/car-seat-not-car-seat-question-merged-threads_ltr.gif)
