To car seat or not to care seat...

[olinecoach61]

Hi everyone,
Looking for some veteran advice. We are taking our 3 year old for her first trip in 9 days. We had planned on bringing her car seat onto the plane for her to fly in. After meeting with my sister today she suggested that we leave it at home. She said it was a hassle to put in and others on the plane would get irritated by having to wait for it to be installed. What do you think? Any Advice? We only need it for the plane, we will be using Disney transporation for everything else.
Thanks

 

[wilkeliza]

Just adding on to the situation with the new child restraint system. I think according to their website it says they airline must allow you to use it since it is FAA approved. A dog under the seat in front of me may disturb me when he pees and it gets on my shoes but they are allowed to be there. A cranky businessman may disturb me when he chooses to sleep on my arm and they are allowed to be on the plane. Honesty the safety of the child should far out way the 3 seconds it takes to connect the one piece to the seat.

 

[Uncle Lupe]

I bet you could get a lot of peanuts for being told to compromise child safety for other passengers comfort.

 

[sarajo]

Check with your airline first because, like others have said, it must be approved for aircraft use. When our kids (all three of them) had reached 3 years, they sat in the seats without their carseat without any problem... since it's a lap belt. We recently travelled and had to take our kids' booster seats (for the car rental portion of the trip) and the airline attendants kinds of freaked because they thought we were going to use the booster on the plane (we stowed them under our seats as carry-ons!) If you're using DME, you can't use the carseat on the bus.

 

[olinecoach61]

Check with your airline first because, like others have said, it must be approved for aircraft use. When our kids (all three of them) had reached 3 years, they sat in the seats without their carseat without any problem... since it's a lap belt. We recently travelled and had to take our kids' booster seats (for the car rental portion of the trip) and the airline attendants kinds of freaked because they thought we were going to use the booster on the plane (we stowed them under our seats as carry-ons!) If you're using DME, you can't use the carseat on the bus.

Thanks for the info!

 

[dmbcrush5]

We've been to the World twice with our 14 month old so far and absolultely brought his car seat on the planes with us. His safety and our comfort were top priorities! As others have said, the window is the only seat where you can use a car seat. Bringing the seat on the plane and strapping it in wasn't a pain at all. At 8 and then 12 months his legs were pretty short, so we didn't have any problems with him kicking the seat or needing the tray. If you do decide to use the seat, I would HIGHLY recommend looking into go go babyz travelmate. You attach the car seat to it and pull it like a piece of luggage. It's super fast to take the car seat off and put it on, and once on the plane, the travelmate tucks easily into the overhead bin with room to stack a suitcase on top. That way we are able to check the stroller and our son LOVES riding in his car seat through the airport. Be prepared for lots of people asking you where you got it and saying that it's ingenious, as well as some glares for pulling your kid around like a piece of luggage.

 

[disneygirl76]

Hi everyone,
Looking for some veteran advice. We are taking our 3 year old for her first trip in 9 days. We had planned on bringing her car seat onto the plane for her to fly in. After meeting with my sister today she suggested that we leave it at home. She said it was a hassle to put in and others on the plane would get irritated by having to wait for it to be installed. What do you think? Any Advice? We only need it for the plane, we will be using Disney transporation for everything else.
Thanks

Hi there,

I always recommend that the parents have to do what is most comfortable for them. But if you fly, then take MCO, then you don't need the car sear. On a plane, they are not permitted in the seat. Just to double check this I have a friend who is a pilot (for American Airlines so I can not speak to all airlines) and he confirmed this. The reason, is safty and time to get the child out if something happens on the flight. They have to either sit on a adults lap or occupy their own seat. If she is 3, she will have to occupy her own seat. If you are taking Disney Magical Express, then they also don't allow car seats. They stow them underneath and the child has to occupy their own seat or sit on an adults lap.

If you are traveling with an infant, you stow their carrier and they sit on your lap. A lot of moms carry the baby on them in a bjorn or something like that.

I hope this helps.

 

[olinecoach61]

Hi there,

I always recommend that the parents have to do what is most comfortable for them. But if you fly, then take MCO, then you don't need the car sear. On a plane, they are not permitted in the seat. Just to double check this I have a friend who is a pilot (for American Airlines so I can not speak to all airlines) and he confirmed this. The reason, is safty and time to get the child out if something happens on the flight. They have to either sit on a adults lap or occupy their own seat. If she is 3, she will have to occupy her own seat. If you are taking Disney Magical Express, then they also don't allow car seats. They stow them underneath and the child has to occupy their own seat or sit on an adults lap.

If you are traveling with an infant, you stow their carrier and they sit on your lap. A lot of moms carry the baby on them in a bjorn or something like that.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the help!

 

[GeekDad]

Hi there,

I always recommend that the parents have to do what is most comfortable for them. But if you fly, then take MCO, then you don't need the car sear. On a plane, they are not permitted in the seat. Just to double check this I have a friend who is a pilot (for American Airlines so I can not speak to all airlines) and he confirmed this. The reason, is safty and time to get the child out if something happens on the flight. They have to either sit on a adults lap or occupy their own seat. If she is 3, she will have to occupy her own seat. If you are taking Disney Magical Express, then they also don't allow car seats. They stow them underneath and the child has to occupy their own seat or sit on an adults lap.

If you are traveling with an infant, you stow their carrier and they sit on your lap. A lot of moms carry the baby on them in a bjorn or something like that.

I hope this helps.

Is this just for children 3 and older? I have several friends that have taken 1 and 2 year old's and have used FAA approved car seats before. I'm sure there is a cut off age but I'm not sure what age that was.

 

[Laura]

About 10 years ago I used a carseat on a plane. I was flying with my 1 year old and a newborn and had no one to help me. It was easier to take care of my newborn with my 1 year old strapped into a carseat where he couldn't go anywhere, versus having him bouncing around in his seat and driving me crazy.

With that said, I can't imagine bringing a carseat on a plane for a child over age 2. If you're in a plane crash, chances are you're dead on impact. Carseat isn't going to change that. It's much easier just to check it with the luggage.

 

[wilkeliza]

With that said, I can't imagine bringing a carseat on a plane for a child over age 2. If you're in a plane crash, chances are you're dead on impact. Carseat isn't going to change that. It's much easier just to check it with the luggage.

For me it is less about crashing and more about turbulence. I have been on 2 flights where a family had a lap infant or older child with the lap belt and the poor babies got knocked around pretty badly. The one with the lap infant their baby smacked their head on the seat in front of them. I wanted to cry for the baby because I heard the impact.

 

[disneygirl76]

Is this just for children 3 and older? I have several friends that have taken 1 and 2 year old's and have used FAA approved car seats before. I'm sure there is a cut off age but I'm not sure what age that was.

No, I just was referring to the OP's age of her child when I asked my pilot friend.