Quick Tip #4: Flying with Toddlers
Travel Safety, Travel Tips — By Nicole Lerner on December 22, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Flying with kids can be a challenge. Lugging an ungainly car seat onto a plane doesn’t make it any easier.
If you have a child age 1 or older who weighs between 22 and 44 pounds and measures under 40″ tall, you can use the CARES harness instead of a car seat on-board. Of course, you have to pay for a seat for this child, or be lucky enough to have an empty seat next to you (Children under 2 fly free on domestic U.S. flights, assuming they sit on an adult’s lap).
The CARES harness provides the protection of a traditional car seat on a plane, yet it only weighs 1 pound and fits in a 6 inch stuff sack! It’s a nifty invention that turns the airplane seat’s lap belt into a 4-point harness. It’s easy to install – you loop it over the seat and through the buckles of the lap belt. It is the first and only harness-type Aviation Child Safety Device to be certified by the U.S.’s FAA as an alternative to a car seat, and it has also been certified by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Singapore.
A good option, if you need a car seat at your destination, is to check-in the car seat, and use the CARES harness on-board. Car seat check in is free on most airlines if you are traveling with a child. You get the best of both worlds – a securely restrained child on the airplane, and your own car seat for use when you arrive, all without lugging the car seat into the plane’s cabin!
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