If your child regularly rides in a booster seat, our advice is to travel with a backless booster seat. We remain hopeful for FAA approval of the Ride Safer Travel Vest, which will function as an appropriate restraint both on an aircraft and in a vehicle for 3-8 year olds.īelt positioning booster seats cannot be used on board an aircraft. It is a viable option for this small subset of children, but only if you will not need to bring a car seat to your destination. However, its 40 inch height limit means that only a very small number of children will be at a height and weight where it works. It does nothing to reposition the lap belt, and smaller toddlers can easily slip right under it. The problem with the CARES is that it really only fits children on the larger end of its 44 lb weight limit. All of the manufacturers, however, agree that seats should be used on board for the safety of the child.Ĥ years old, 40 inches, 40 lbs using the CARES harness on an airplaneĬaregivers often ask about the safety of the CARES airplane harness. If there is any concern about the seat at all it should not be used again, but if it looks ok then the manufacturers have said it doesn’t need replacing. A seat that’s been checked as baggage should be looked over very carefully for any damage at all. The worst thing that can happen is that a car seat arrives at the other end with damage that cannot be seen. The cover being clean at the other end is the least of the concerns.
All too often I see parents check their car seats at the ticket counter, wrapped in nothing but a plastic bag to keep the cover clean. And then gate check it (it’s far more convenient to use the seat on board than to drag a big box to the gate).
If you must check a car seat, put it in its original packaging with padding in the box. In addition to the lack of safety for a child and the people nearby, there is a risk to checking a car seat. For some reason they’re not given the same priority as the peanuts. Children and adults over two, the flight attendants, all carry on baggage, books, computers, soap in the lav, coffee pots, and snacks are secured. Remember, on the flight the only things not restrained during taxi, takeoff, and landing are children under two. While it can be unpredictable, if you are seated you should at least fasten your belt and your children’s harnesses snugly enough so that they do not have to worry about unexpected turbulence, just as the pilot and flight crew suggests. Turbulence can happen at any time, and it can be violent enough to throw people into the ceiling or several rows away. The child will likely be thrown from the carrier or be crushed by the weight of your body, just as if they were sitting on your lap. Babywearing is not permitted during landing or takeoff, and the carrier is not designed to hold up to the force of a crash. Graco Snugride Snuglock 35 Airplane Installationīabywearing is not a substitute for using a child restraint on board the airplane. If your child is next to you in a car seat, they’ll still be there after the crash. An infant can be six rows up and under the seats and easily overlooked during an emergency evacuation. That’s enough to be fatal to themselves, and whomever they impact.Įven if baby is fine after being a projectile, and no one has been injured, if you have ten seconds to get off the plane due to toxic gasses or smoke filling the cabin, you’ll want your baby to be next to you to easily go. A 20 pound child in a 150 mph crash would have 3,000 pounds of force to them. And most parents would pale at the thought of having their child on their laps going to the store at 30 mph, but think nothing of having their child on their lap on the plane at 150 mph.Īt 150 mph your child would be your airbag, or they would go flying inside the cabin. Runway emergencies are just like car crashes, except at 150 mph and not 30 mph. Far more likely are runway emergencies or turbulence during flight. However, crashes from cruising altitudes are remarkably rare, thank goodness. I will concede that fact two hundred dollars of plastic and harness will not likely help at the stop of a six-mile vertical drop. Most parents, when asked, will say that a car seat won’t save their child if the plane drops out of the sky. Graco Milestone installed on the airplane