rjque

We are on board now and CARES works just fine.

Redhead

Just booked Little Redhead and I in First Class on US RDU-CLT-SJO for Easster next year. Very excited since we will be visiting the family that I was an exchange student with 25 years ago! Little Redhead already understands some Spanish and I am getting back into the habit of making dinner and bath time Spanish time.

Our airplanes are:
Airbus A321
Airbus A319

Little Redhead will be just over 2 at the time (one week after her birthday). I'm planning on taking a car seat since we will need it on the ground too. But I'm trying to decide if the Cares will be enough in the plane and to gate-check the car seat. It is a long flight to be in a car seat the whole time.

Any experience with this plane and config with Cares. She will be big enough for sure.

rjque

We've used CARES in coach on the 321, and it worked fine. I suspect F will work fine, too. No experience on the 321.

One thing to consider: my daughter will not sleep in the CARES harness, but she will sleep in the car seat. I therefore take the car seat on board for any flight where I know she will absolutely need to sleep. It's much more convenient to check the car seat (or gate check it) and use CARES, but the sleep issue can be a big deal.

Redhead

Good point. Little Redhead has only been a lap child to date and this will be her first flight with her own seat. I guess I could take the car seat on board and try it first and then put in at the foot of the seat if it doesn't work for sleep.

I'm going to get a Cosco Scenara for the travel since my usual car seat is too big to lug around, plus I really hate taking it out of my car.

SD213

Hi! I am sorry if someone answered this in a previous post, but I wanted to know if anyone has used the CARES harness in a business class seat on United's 787 dreamliner? We are going to Tokyo, and would love to travel without a car seat. I emailed United, but they didn't have a definitive answer and guided me to FlyerTalk. Thank you in advance!

6rugrats

I don't know the answer, but find it amusing someone at UA would tell you to ask on FT. Can't they just put this information on their webpage? How hard would that be?

SD213

I know, I thought that was a little ridiculous too. But honestly, I'm more likely to find a definitive answer here.

Eclipsepearl

Too funny! United is unsure of the design of its own business class seats? It refers people here?!?

You need to slip it over the back of the seat and slide it down. This isn't possible on some premium seats on a number of airlines. I'm wondering if the contacting the CARES harness people themselves would answer this. Try http://kidsflysafe.com

SD213

Thank you! I did try to contact kidsflysafe, and they thought it would work and wanted me to verify the seat dimensions with United, which I did. I am waiting for their response. I never imagined how difficult it would be to find an answer to this question! I don't think it can be slipped around the entire seat including the shell, but there's a chance it could fit around the seat back cushion because there is a space there when it's upright. If I find an answer or purchase a harness and test it out, I'll report back! Thanks again

azepine00

Out of curiosity why not just use a regular seat belt? They tighten perfectly well as long is you are around to make sure they don't unbuckle it in the middle of landing...

SD213

My son is a year and a half, and to be honest, I am not sure how he would do (he seems like he'd mess with the buckle). I think the FAA recommends that children be 40 lbs to use the lap belt. I am just overly paranoid, but since I bought him a seat solely for his safety, it would make me nervous to use just the lap belt if he is supposed to be in a restraint. I know it's a little crazy, I guess that's just me!

Erasmus

With all due respect, there is no way a lap belt would have kept either of my kids from shooting up to the ceiling at that age/size should we have encountered severe turbulence. We generally use(d) a carseat unless we were flying in lie-flat seats, but even then we were fully aware we were making safety/comfort/convenience tradeoff by going with the lap belt vs. CARES or a carseat. I completely understand and respect that others may come down differently on that equation for their own kids.

Gooseandmav

How do I know if the seatbelts will have airbags? My little one is on the smaller side so will prob need a car seat for a while and we want the extra leg room, etc for us in business. I've read and this thread confirms the seat belt extender will disable the air bag but we need a universal extender. I'm worried that some may not have it, so should we just get our own? Does this one seem like it will work?
Thank you!

http://www.amazon.com/FAA-Approved-U...r+for+airplane

Gooseandmav

Well, I think this flyer posted on another thread in this forum answers my last question :-(
http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviat.../InFO12012.pdf

GalleyWench

Looked at your Amazon link and that extender will not work on an airbag equipped seatbelt.