flying with convertable car seat

Emmagk · August 2014

Have any of you traveled with your convertible car seat before? We are flying down to Florida in October and were planning on taking our own car seat and gate checking it. However our bucket seat only goes to a length of 28.5in and DS is already 25.5. There's a good chance he will have grown out of the bucket by October and we'll have to take the convertible. How do you carry the convertible through the airport? It's so big and heavy, i really don't want to desk check it

Junebug060609 · August 2014

Get a backpack type bag and carry it. Or some will fit on special cart things you can get (some of which even allow for kid to ride in the seat while you tow it, doubling as a stroller.

You can gate check it or install it in kids seat if they have their own seat and if the seat is FAA approved.

Emmagk · August 2014

Thanks. I'll have a look for the back pack type bag (DH will just love carrying that). I doubt the airports we are flying to/ from will have special carts (Bangor and St Petes). The one we have is FAA approved but DS is going as a lap child. The flight is only half full right now so I'm hoping they let us take it on board and have his own seat when we are boarding

Junebug060609 · August 2014

It isn't a cart you get at the airport, it's one you buy and bring.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0074JKQ0Y?cache=9de2c5c2a85316e596d1542159690440&pi=SX200_QL40&qid=1408198810&sr=8-2#ref=mp_s_a_1_2

britab · August 2014

Car seats for the littles has great info for flying. Lap children aren't recommended because with turbulence or rocky take offs/landings they can get hurt.

bcnoelle · August 2014

When my son was 17 months we traveled with a convertible car seat and bought something off amazon that turns it into a rolling 'stroller'. It was super easy strapping him in and rolling through the airport.he had his own seat on the airplane and we put the car seat on it. You also might want to consider renting one throught www.babysaway.com.

danabsd · August 2014

We brought the stroller put the carseat in the stroller, wore the baby and gate checked both.

danabsd · August 2014

I know CSFTL is all gung-ho about buying the baby a seat and using a carseat but I don't buy it. To begin with it's beyond rude to the person in front of you to install a RFing carseat on the plane. They can't lean their seat back. andplusalso, when was the last time an airplane got rear ended? I just don't see the point.

letal316 · August 2014

Kimbus22 said:

danabsd said:

I know CSFTL is all gung-ho about buying the baby a seat and using a carseat but I don't buy it. To begin with it's beyond rude to the person in front of you to install a RFing carseat on the plane. They can't lean their seat back. andplusalso, when was the last time an airplane got rear ended? I just don't see the point.

Don't but if it you don't want to. But adults get injured during bad turbulence all the time. The last thing I want is my plane hitting a rough patch and my kid launching out of my arms.

I have no idea what getting rear ended has to do with anything. Kids don't sit in rear facing seats only to protect against rear impact. They do it because it's a safer way for their developing spines to absorb any type of impact.

I'm flying with DD next week and never even considered buying her a separate seat. I didn't think through the safety issues but then I started to hear about how it's not safe to fly with an infant without a car seat so I went to my personal expert, my sister. She has been a flight attendant for 8 years and she gave me the lowdown.

She admitted that it is safer for infants to fly in car seats but based on her experience about 95% of parents flying with kids under 2 do not buy them a separate seat bc flight costs are so ridiculous. She also said that in 8 years she has never seen an infant get injured in a flight and she only knows one other flight attendant who was on a flight with a lap baby when they hit crazy bad turbulence and the baby was totally fine.

She did give me some tips though of how she would fly with her own baby. She basically said to keep the baby in your carrier (attached to your body) for as much of the flight as possible (you can't do this during take off or landing though). The type of turbulence that could injure a baby would be the unexpected kind, so you wouldn't have any notice. So the best rule of thumb is to keep them secure as much as possible.

Safe travels!

Emmagk · August 2014

letal316 said:

danabsd said:

I know CSFTL is all gung-ho about buying the baby a seat and using a carseat but I don't buy it. To begin with it's beyond rude to the person in front of you to install a RFing carseat on the plane. They can't lean their seat back. andplusalso, when was the last time an airplane got rear ended? I just don't see the point.

Don't but if it you don't want to. But adults get injured during bad turbulence all the time. The last thing I want is my plane hitting a rough patch and my kid launching out of my arms.

I have no idea what getting rear ended has to do with anything. Kids don't sit in rear facing seats only to protect against rear impact. They do it because it's a safer way for their developing spines to absorb any type of impact.
I'm flying with DD next week and never even considered buying her a separate seat. I didn't think through the safety issues but then I started to hear about how it's not safe to fly with an infant without a car seat so I went to my personal expert, my sister. She has been a flight attendant for 8 years and she gave me the lowdown. She admitted that it is safer for infants to fly in car seats but based on her experience about 95% of parents flying with kids under 2 do not buy them a separate seat bc flight costs are so ridiculous. She also said that in 8 years she has never seen an infant get injured in a flight and she only knows one other flight attendant who was on a flight with a lap baby when they hit crazy bad turbulence and the baby was totally fine. She did give me some tips though of how she would fly with her own baby. She basically said to keep the baby in your carrier (attached to your body) for as much of the flight as possible (you can't do this during take off or landing though). The type of turbulence that could injure a baby would be the unexpected kind, so you wouldn't have any notice. So the best rule of thumb is to keep them secure as much as possible. Safe travels!

That's reassuring to know. I've taken a lot of flights and have yet to see a kid in a car seat on the plane. We plan on wearing DS as much as possible but he really hates it if the person wearing him is sitting down.

Bacon2 · August 2014

I would just check the car seat with your luggage. Especially since LO is a lap child.
You will not have worry about strolling it through the airport. It's just much easier.
They make great car seat bags. I have one that has all kinds of extra padding so if it gets tossed around it's protected. It was a little pricy, but it's held up. My DS1 is now 2 1/2 and I have been using it since he was 2 months.

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