Flying with a 2 year-old - hold him or get him a seat?

Meggiemuggins · June 2014

My sister is getting married in March in the Caribbean. We'll fly through Toronto, leaving here on DS's 2nd birthday and staying in an airport hotel, then flying to the wedding the next day. Since the flight would be on DS's 2nd birthday, he'll get his own seat and be able to check a suitcase. If we fly to Toronto the day BEFORE his birthday, we'll have to hold him on the plane but we'll save about $600 in airfare. We'll have to stay another night in the hotel and pay for an extra suitcase, but none of that will come even close to $600.

Would you save the $600 but deal with a VERY wiggly, mobile nearly 2 year-old on your lap for a 6 hour flight, plus stay an extra night in an airport hotel

OR

Fly on his birthday as planned, and spend the money to have him in his own damn seat.

kelly321 · June 2014

Firstly, there's usually a stipulation that the child's age on the RETURN trip is what counts. So that will probably make this all a moot point. In case you found some crazy airline that doesn't have that policy, though, the I would shell out the cash. I've flown 8-9.5 hour flights with toddler(s) a couple of times now, and let me tell you that them having their own seat makes an incredible difference. Of course, $600 is $600, and in the end it's only 6 hours of your life, so... I'm always on the fence too and have not yet gotten my under-2s their own seat. The exception might be this year at Christmas because I may be pregnant and there is no way I am traveling with a 3.5 year old, an almost-2 year old who would have to be in my lap (on the airline we're flying they don't allow bassinets for children over 8 months. Boo.), and pregnant on a 9 hour flight. DH will be there, too, but still. No thank you.

ericalee27 · June 2014

I am a total cheapskate on many things....but agree, buy the seat, from both a safety and a comfort reason.

kelly321 · June 2014

luxannie said:

I'd buy her a seat for your own sanity and comfort. And I'd put her in a car seat in that seat. My friend has learned to do that with her 2 year old twins (put them in a car seat in their own seat) and she says it makes a world of difference to the travel experience. The kiddos are already used to the car seat, so they're calmer and can more readily fall asleep.

I know a lot of people do this with the car seat, but you'll really need to look into your kind of seat and the plane you'll be on to see whether it will fit. if it's RFing, there's a good chance it won't. If it's FFing, then it puts the kids' feet at just the right spot to spend the whole flight kicking the back of the seat in front of them. Another option you can look into is a CARES harness, although you'll have to look for the ages that's meant for.

I guess I never really understand the argument that the kid knows the car seat. Do any of you who have children who like their car seat? Mine certainly don't... Plus I would not want to drag a car seat plus all the regular crap plus a toddler through the airport for connections. I understand the safety concerns, but simply for practicality, my preference is a CARES harness.

BrewerFan86 · June 2014

If you can afford the $600, I would get him his own seat. After flying from Milwaukee to Orlando (about a 2 1/2 hour flight), I could not imagine holding a little one for a minute longer than that.

djm31012 · June 2014

GET HIS OWN SEAT! we flew to aruba with DS a week after his first birthday and he sat on our lap...at the end of the 4 hours we were all sweaty with sore legs and bums bc he is a BIG kid! to me its worth the comfort, whatever the price.

kelly321 · June 2014

fishes said:

I would say if you can, go for the extra seat. That's a long flight.

And a note about car seats - I read somewhere that even if you would normally RF them in the car you have to FF them in an airplane because of space and fit. In a plane the main safety issue/risk is turbulence, not a crash like in cars, so it's not as important to RF.

**stuck in the box**

Well, my concern in a plane is crashing, but I don't think RF/FF will make a difference in that case (sorry, I've got a serious fear of flying)

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Flying with a 2 year-old - hold him or get him a seat?

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