When to fly without an infant car seat?

Matt

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
We've got a number of trips coming up with Dylan in business class, in his own seat. In the past we have used a car seat as it is handy for his size, and keeps him locked in, but with the longer flights coming up (several 10hr treks) I like the idea of making the seat lie flat and trying to get him bundled up in there, with a seatbelt on.

What age/size did you swap to their own seat/no car seat? Open to any pointers here to make the trip go smoothly.
 
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GettingReady

Level 2 Member
How old is he? I'm all for kids being restrained. Lol. Once he gets use to being out of the car seat on a plane, you're done with it--forever. That's not to say he can't get out and stretch just like mom and dad. Don't they have to be 40lbs in a car before they can have their own seat? It's been so long I don't remember, but I would follow car rules.

Any ear or sinus problems? If so, placing styrofoam cups over his ears with landing and take off helps with the pressure.

If and when you want advice on weaning from a pacifier, potty training, and getting two year olds to behave in a restaurant, I'm your go-to person. Lol. We use to take our (4) two year olds (foster children) out to eat all the time because they were free and less mess for me. Complete strangers would ALWAYS come up to us and comment how well behaved they were. Ages 0-3 was our specialty. We had over 100 children.
 
Matt

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
GettingReady said:
How old is he? I'm all for kids being restrained. Lol. Once he gets use to being out of the car seat on a plane, you're done with it--forever.
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He's about 18 months, but quite a giant for his age. He's not one for sitting in a car seat anyway, and wants to run constantly, so I'm trying to figure out if it is worth it to bring on the plane vs check it. Assuming it was safe etc..
 
G

GettingReady

Level 2 Member
Matt said:
He's about 18 months, but quite a giant for his age. He's not one for sitting in a car seat anyway, and wants to run constantly, so I'm trying to figure out if it is worth it to bring on the plane vs check it. Assuming it was safe etc..
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Gonna be a fun trip. Kids that age hate being restrained. How does he do with Benadryl or NyQuil. :p
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
Personally, I can no longer recall if I ever did this or not, but a friend of mine who is a pediatrician does suggest small doses of Benadryl on planes for younger children. We just didn't travel much when they were small. Ten hours in a car seat? That seems tough and I am not sure I would do it. Seems kind of cruel. But I could have this completely wrong. My youngest is about to turn 23 and it all seems like a blur to me now.
 
G

GettingReady

Level 2 Member
Benadryl makes some kids hyper. You have to try it out ahead of time to see how it works.

I would NEVER expect a child to be in a car seat that long. Just like adults get up and walk and stretch, kids need too also, But when he's not walking/playing and if mom and dad are seated, it's time for him to sit too. We would also get new toys,games, and activities for kids when we were traveling. They only got one new thing at a time and we spread it out. That helped them to be occupied while they were sitting. All age-appropriate of course.
 
J

Jmendoza

New Member
We travel (and have traveled) with our daughter (just turned two) and we have never used a car seat and probably never will, haha! Its just an extra thing you have to bring, plus they are really bulky. The way I see it, if the plane goes down then a car seat isn't going to do much good. We have always put her seat belt on for take off and touch down if we have an extra seat but it also allows her to be able move around (up and down, up and down, up and down) within her seating area. Activities are always a perk and we break our technology rule for longer flights also.

Another thing we have eliminated is a stroller and we just use a rolling carry on that she can ride on. Our daughter is tiny so that makes it easier, but for those with small children its a good alternative. I just think the less you have to worry about carrying, the better the trip will be. With another kid on the way I'm sure we will become even more minimalists when it comes to carrying on.
 
Burgertm

Burgertm

Level 2 Member
We've never done the car seat on planes, so I can't speak from that perspective. Our longest flights when the kids were that old was probably 3 hours (we recently just did 8 hours with 3 kids 9, 7, and 3 years old). As others said, that long in a car seat is going to make for a very grumpy child. I am not one who condones giving Benadryl to children for flights. I'd prefer to only give my children medicine when they are sick.

Does he have favorite shows? Do you have an iPad or something for him to watch that on? What time of day is the flight? If it is overnight, he may only be awake for a small portion of it.

My 3 year old loves riding on the carry on spinner bag as we go through airports, but you're going to need a stroller of some sort with a child as young as yours. I'd take an umbrella stroller and gate check it.
 
G

GettingReady

Level 2 Member
[QUOTE="Burgertm, post: 475371, member: 2384"

My 3 year old loves riding on the carry on spinner bag as we go through airports, but you're going to need a stroller of some sort with a child as young as yours. I'd take an umbrella stroller and gate check it.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely love umbrella strollers (without the canopy)!
 
P

Pat

Silver Member
I would not suggest you to put on car seat since it is almost impossible for him to sit on it for more than a few hours. On the other hand, it will be interesting on how to make him "behave" for the whole trip...

Have you got on the trip and shared some experience? I was planning to bring mine too as a lap infant on business class to Asia this month too, but I have to cancel it in the last minute.
 
Matt

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Pat said:
I would not suggest you to put on car seat since it is almost impossible for him to sit on it for more than a few hours. On the other hand, it will be interesting on how to make him "behave" for the whole trip...

Have you got on the trip and shared some experience? I was planning to bring mine too as a lap infant on business class to Asia this month too, but I have to cancel it in the last minute.
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We are mid way through the trip now, and decided to take the CARES harness with us he didn't really like it. In the past we have flown Business Class with him JFK-MAD as a lap infant (6 months old) and it worked. This trip he mainly slept with Mom as he was a bit restless at times, but we did find having the 3rd seat nice for when he napped during dinner, giving us a break. The 787-9 row 5 that we took was perfect as the galley was not used other than for meal service, so we could step out and walk with him there in an empty space.

It's all very YMMV, time of the flight, how active your kid is etc.. the flight back is likely to be a bit rough as we are flying EZE-GRU with GRU-JFK at 10pm, we took 3 seats on DeltaOne for that, so hoping he will stretch out and enjoy it..
 
P

Pat

Silver Member
Good! I would not bring that to Asia since I usually take public transportation most of the time there.

I still enjoy the time when my baby is still 8 months old and travel as lap infant. Even for DFW to HKG flight economy seats, my baby behaved so well and the extra middle seat the agent got for us helped a lot.

Anyway, glad that it works out for you. I have to start thinking whether I would redeem 3 business class seats + 1 Lap infant or 3 economy class seats + 1 lap infant for our next year trip. :)
 
P

PghRocks

New Member
We've taken the kid twice now on cross-country flights, once at 7 months and once at 13 months. Both times as lap child and it was a bit of a struggle but ultimately fine. Both times we didn't bring a car seat and just rented one with the car (they are free with Hertz if youre Hertz Gold which is free if you have AAA, and im sure through other programs) and it was fine. The rented seats aren't as super fancy as the monstrosities BIG BABY SAFETY makes you buy, they're more basic, but they work and you don't have to lug it through the airport.

As for the actual question - the biggest thing to keep him calm was to allow him to stand, whether on my lap and look back at the other passengers, or on the ground between my wife and I, babies just don't want to sit for very long, the car seat is their personal prison.

Also - never apologize for your baby making noise, babies are a fact of life and babies make noise, if people are too good to hear some baby noise, then they can go fly private in my opinion.
 
milesfortravel

milesfortravel

Level 2 Member
Boy, I think when kids are 12-24 months it's about the most exhausting age to travel with them. I used to just bring stacks of picture books (in the pre-tablet days!) and read & read to my kids until they passed out. My kids always went to sleep much more quickly if they weren't exposed to computer or TV screens.
 
P

Pat

Silver Member
Yes.. Agree. Just travel with a 20 months old as a lap child. Luckily the flight is only 3 hours and she got the own seat since the flight is not completely full, but it is still exhausting as she doesn't go to sleep at all. Keep playing toys and reading books all the way.
 
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