Summary
Air travel with toddlers is brutal, so eliminate stress where you can—keep your kid safely restrained. For kids under ~22 lbs, use a lightweight car seat on the plane, and add a car seat caddy so it doubles as a stroller in the airport. For kids 22–44 lbs who can sit upright, a CARES harness is smaller and easier, but you may still need a booster at your destination.
Air travel with toddlers is not fun.
The goal: eliminate anything that could cause stress while traveling.
Like carry-on roller bags—just spring for the fee and check the bag!
Your hands are needed elsewhere.
Another stressor: taking a car seat on the plane. Technically, you’re not required to do anything special for a kid that’s over age two. They’re allowed to sit in the regular airplane seat with a typical seatbelt.
But as this blog explained, there’s nothing safe about an improperly restrained child on an airplane.
Plus, when you get where you’re going, if you’ll be in a car, you need that car seat anyway.
You might as well bring it on the plane and use it to keep your kiddo restrained, both safely and for your own sanity.
What are my options on the plane?
No matter what, they need their own seat. The airline requires it if they’re 2+, but if you can afford it for an under-two kid, DO IT. You’ll be happy you did.
- Are they under 22 pounds? Use a car seat. More on that below.
- Are they between 22 and 44 pounds, less than 40″ tall, and able to sit upright without assistance? Use a CARES Harness!
I traveled with both: one kid in a car seat and one in a CARES harness. Here’s my honest review!
Traveling with car seats: pros and cons
PROS: Your kiddo’s safely restrained. They won’t be climbing all over your lap. They know the drill with sitting in a carseat already, so it won’t feel foreign. And now you’ll have the carseat for car rides at your destination.
CONS: Traveling with a bulky item. But this is made way easier with one amazing little gadget. More on that below.
Get the lightest car seat possible.
If you’re carrying it around the airport, you’ll want to avoid the heavy metal-frame car seats, like Britax.
Don’t have a light car seat? They’re not expensive! Get one just for travel and you’re good to go.
Google “lightweight carseat for travel” to find the latest and greatest options, like this Safety 1st seat.
You’re looking for something like this Cosco Scenera (no longer for sale).
Make car seat travel easier with a car seat caddy
My recommendation: get a car seat caddy.
You can get one for less than $40, like this one from Amazon.
I was lucky enough to borrow a car seat caddy from a friend for my trip. It was a godsend.
Here’s why:
- It made the car seat pull double-duty as a stroller, and
- it created hours of car-seat-pushing fun for the kids.
A car seat caddy + car seat doubles as a stroller
When we first arrived at the airport, I was going slightly crazy trying to check in our bags while Nathan parked the car. I sat Squeak in his car seat on the caddy and buckled him in.
He hated it for a minute but quickly chilled out.
After Squeak got used to the car seat “stroller,” he preferred to be taken on and off the plane in the car seat.
I wheeled him down the jetbridge in the car seat caddy stroller, like the photo above.
Then I’d scoop up everything–him, the seat, and the caddy–and lift it over the seats as we walked down the aisle.
Squeak weighs less than 30 pounds, but he could have easily walked down the aisle in front of me too.
After his seat was secured, I placed the caddy in the overhead bin and boo-yah, we were seated, buckled, and ready to go faster than my husband could put the CARES harness on my daughter.
Win!
BONUS PERK of the car seat caddy? It doubles as a push toy.
The hours of car-seat-pushing fun was a pretty big perk. It kept both kids occupied during layovers, especially Squeak, who loves to push anything.
Pros and cons of the CARES Harness
First, what is a CARES harness?
The CARES slips over the seat back and connects with the regular seatbelt to turn an airplane seat into a four-point harness.
It’s significantly safer than a lap belt alone. It comes with idiot-proof instructions and adjusts easily.
PROS: It’s easier to travel with since a CARES Harness is much smaller and compact. It’s easy to install and use (even my husband could figure it out).
CONS: It can’t double as a booster for car rides at your destination, so you’ll need to arrange for a booster separately. It’s expensive to buy (but you can rent one!).
How much is a CARES harness?
Buying a CARES Harnesses is about $80, and if you’re just an occasional traveler, that’s a steep price for only a couple of uses.
Good news: You can rent a CARES Harness for less than $20!
I rented mine from RentCares.com.
You enter your vacation dates when you reserve your harness; they send it a week in advance of your departure.
After you return home, you’ve got a week or so to return the harness (you can use the same envelope you received it in), and you only need to pay the postage to ship it back.
Helluva lot cheaper than buying your own.
Final verdict: Which is better?
Assuming your kid is big enough to use a car seat OR a CARES harness, it depends on:
- Your plans when you get to your destination. Will you need a car seat for car rides?
- How you want to handle your kid IN the airport. Will they walk on their own, or would you prefer the ability to pull them along on a caddy?
If they can walk in the airport and you won’t need the car seat at your destination…
…the CARES is the way to go. Less expensive and easier overall. You might also consider a suitcase they can ride on.
If you need the car seat when you arrive…
… take a car seat and a caddy! It’ll do double-duty while traveling as a stroller, too.
Tell me again why I should go to all this hassle?
Contrary to when you’re driving in your car, there’s no law that says you have to properly and safely restrain your babies. The air lines are worried you’ll balk at the cost of an additional seat, and travel by car instead. So they aren’t going to push the safety issue.
We require coffeepots to be secured for takeoff and landing, but not babies. What’s that about?!
Car Seat Lady does a great job of explaining why this “hassle” is wise. She also scares the shit out of you in the process, just like my blog about lap children probably will.
A few weeks after our trip, I flew for work and witnessed a mom traveling alone with her two children. One was under age two, the other just over two (I’m guessing based on size). The mom used only the lap belt for her older child and put the younger on her lap.
They immediately fell asleep–meaning that they went through takeoff and ascent like this:
One big bump and that little one would’ve been on the floor. Luckily the flight was uneventful. They got lucky, but she was certainly hedging her bets with this setup.
But ultimately, airlines have a role to play here, too.
We can do better.
Hello. I loved this post and your other one about lap babies. That one scared me enough to not want to travel with a lap baby anymore. Since then I have been learning more about the use of car seats in general and I’m planning to take the CPST course soon. Also, I’m helping a friend of mine (a CPST in Puerto Rico) set up a blog about car seat safety in Spanish. There is a lot of need in the subject since most of the information,action available right now is in English. I would like to contact you about the possibility of translating your lap baby post and using it on the blog (of course providing a link to your blog). Please contact me if you think this is a good idea. Thanks and keep up the good work.
PS the blog is for educational purposes only, no financial gain
When traveling with an infant, is an infant carseat buckled into a seat ok? Or do you have to use a full size car seat? We are traveling with our 4 month old.