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Advice for plane travel...CARES harness and carseat question

Snow1010Snow1010 member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+
The last time we traveled on a plane with DD we brought our Britax Boulevard on the plane with us.  HUGE mistake.  It barely fit in the seat and DD had no room for her legs.  On the way home we checked the carseat and DD did much better!

We have another trip coming up and DD will have her own seat.  I always read about the CARES harness.  Is this really necessary or can you just use the seat belt? 

We will need to take a carseat with us and check it, but the Britax is a beast!!!!  Are there any "smaller" carseats you'd recommend we purchase and use when traveling? 
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Re: Advice for plane travel...CARES harness and carseat question

  • erbearerbear member
    I have used our Cosco Scenera on a plane before. It's small, lightweight and cheap.
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  • SoxFan777SoxFan777 member
    I used the seatbelt for my DS at 23 months.  He was fine.  It was an 8 hour flight, though, and he was out of the seat and playing by the window (I was in the aisle seat) for a few hours.  Worked great.  I didn't want to bring a carseat, as we had one already where we were going. 

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  • Katie829Katie829 member
    If you need to bring a car seat than buy a cosco scenera and use it on the plane. I wouldn't recommend just using the seat belt because god forbid terrible turbulence could happen your child could fly out of the seat belt and potentially be injured or injure others. That is also why lap babies are not recommended.
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  • sucredeesucredee member
    edited August 2013
    We started using the CARES harness once she was no longer a lap child at 2 (we flew once with our Britax roundabout and it sucked). We really like it. Is it really necessary? Probably not but it keeps DD restrained pretty well when she really needs to be. Once the seatbelt sign goes off we let her out. I think if she was just in the lap belt she would not stay seated as well and constantly do/undo the buckle (the child is obsessed with buckles :) . We fly a lot though so it was worth buying it. We got it on amazon for cheaper than the going price and it looks like it will have great resale value on eBay (I tried getting a second hand one without the box that ended up going for like $55!) Since we fly a lot and I don't want to check the car seat we have the goGo Baby to drag the car seat through the airport and gate check it (don't want to take a chance of the car seat not being at the other end. It could happen with gate check as well I supposes but the chances are pretty slim.) . It has worked well for us.
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  • JulesDianeJulesDiane member
    I agree that the Britax can be a pain on the plane! We got the Radian RXT to make air travel easier. My DH can carry it pretty easily, I think its kind of heavy!
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  • EDWHIPEDWHIP member
    OMG the Britax SUCKS on the plane.  If you travel a lot, then I would recommend CARES.  Otherwise, just stick with a smaller car seat.  
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  • TriciaandSeanTriciaandSean member
    We traveled with our Britax on the plane and I didn't think it was so bad.  We had one of the wheel carts to roll it through the airport and on the plane we installed it RF.  Not that it matters on a plane, but he had a place to rest his feet and it was similar to being in the car. So he was comfortable.  It sucks for the person in front of you since they can't recline their seat but at least they aren't kicking their seat. 
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  • ghostof5lettersghostof5letters member
    Hehehe we made the Britax/plane error one too. I'm glad I'm not the only one. We'll use the cares harness next time. Our DD is a bit of a wild child and I need her restrained for take off and landings. 
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  • genekellygenekelly member
    I bought the CARES harness for our recent international trip.  We only used it for takeoff and landings and used the lapbelt at other times.  DS found it uncomfortable to be in all the time.  The  issue I had was that on one of the planes, the harness kept slipping down b/c of the shape of the seats so that the shoulder strap was at his shoulder and it should have been slightly above.  It also gapped out a bit on the back of the seat b/c of the seat shape(indented in the center with wings on both right and left edge) which made it rub DS neck a bit.  3 of the 4 flights it worked fine though.  I'm really glad I didn't bring the car seat onboard.  DS needed the extra room to wiggle and get up and down off the seat during the flight.  If we fly again anytime soon, I'll bring the CARES harness and gate check the carseat.   I'm not completely sold on the CARES yet but I felt better about having it then just using a lap belt.  As for the carseat,  I don't think I could have kept DS entertained and pleasant for 6-7 hours on an overnight flight in his carseat.  Good luck!
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  • CarefreeCARESharnessRentalsCarefreeCARESharnessRentals
    Depending on the child's age, the CARES harness is a very good option for a few reasons: 1) it is lightweight and super easy to install 2) it mimics the child's carseat (with the chest straps) and makes the child feel more secure. Buying one brand new ($74.95 + shipping) might not make financial sense for infrequent travelers. You can actually rent one for $23.99 either on eBay (https://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=aaronlanesmommy&ftab=AllFeedback) or here: www.CarefreeCARESharnessRentals.com. 

    Happy travels!
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