Please Help, Tall children(4,6) need light airline friendly seats!

[trickyhop]

hi,
I have two Radians. They are just too heavy for me to manouver! I am taking two trips this summer which require long flights and rental cars. I would love to find two good seats for my 6 year old whos 50lbs and 47 inches and my 4 year old who is 40lbs and 43 inches. Id like them to be harness seats, and id like to get two identical so they wont fight over them. The only two that look like they would last over a years time seem to be the evenflo sureride and securefit. Have i missed something? according to some of the reviews these seats dont fit children who are closer to the limits on height etc. Also my children will be on long flights it seems that the securefit pushes heads forward and the sure ride is a carseat only so will max out at 65lbs. which might not be a big deal but... Does anyone have some insight or a reccomendation?

[gymnbomb]

Do you plan to have both kids sit in them on the plane? Just the 4 year old? Neither? No personal experience with kids that age/size, but I have read that airline seat belts are considered ok for 40 lbs and up.


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[trickyhop]

I was going to have both sit in their car seats on the airplane. This would also save me from having to pack the carseats. Honestly I have seen how they have treated my strollers and I dont want them to drop my carseats on the ground a couple times, especially these lighter ones that arent made out of steel like my Radians!

[cuca_]

On the flight, I would go with a cares harness for your 4 year old and allow your 6 year old to seat without a car seat. I found that once my kids got to a certain size, their legs were really cramped when siting in a car seat because of the proximity of the seat in front of us. It also meant that they were more likely to kick the seat in front when moving their legs. My kids have travelled a lot without car seats starting around age three and it has been fine. For the most part, we've always had a car seat at our destination, and in the last years we've used bubble bums as boosters, but they are 8 and almost 7 now.

[essnce629]

I'm super hardcore about carseat safety, but the FAA recommends kids under 40lbs sit in carseats on the plane. Once my kids reached 40lbs I was fine with them just using the plane seat belt. Personally, I would get something like the Evenflo Securekid for the 4 year old and an inexpensive Graco Turbobooster for the 6 year old and gate check both of them as you're getting on the plane. They'll be the last things on and the first things off and will be waiting for you as soon as you leave the plane. We've never had a problem gate checking carseats or strollers.

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[Mommy_Mea]

I would skip anything on the plane and use the ride safer vest for both kids.

[trickyhop]

Thank You! i am now being lent a Graco contender 15lbs and am looking at buying a graco tranzitions booster, it has a five point harness.

[KrisM]

I would look into the Ride Safer vest. We used one in our car fairly often and it's a bit of a pain at first, but overall not bad and the kids were fine in it.

[twowhat?]

I would skip anything on the plane and use the ride safer vest for both kids.

this is exactly what we have done when our kids were those ages. Nothing on the plane (just made sure they had their lap belts snug on their hips whenever they were not up to use the bathroom). Packed the RideSafer bags in our carry-on luggage or a backpack so that we could be 100% guaranteed to have them when we land. They take a bit longer to buckle kids in, and it's less likely they can do it themselves, but the portability is well worth the small inconvenience. The other great thing about them is it's no problem to sit 3-across, which was so useful when they were younger and I felt better sitting in the back seat with them.

I'm also super hardcore car seat safety conscious but would be totally fine with a 40 lb 4-yo sitting in the plane with the plane lap belt...planes are just an entirely different beast than cars.

[hillview]

this is exactly what we have done when our kids were those ages. Nothing on the plane (just made sure they had their lap belts snug on their hips whenever they were not up to use the bathroom). Packed the RideSafer bags in our carry-on luggage or a backpack so that we could be 100% guaranteed to have them when we land. They take a bit longer to buckle kids in, and it's less likely they can do it themselves, but the portability is well worth the small inconvenience. The other great thing about them is it's no problem to sit 3-across, which was so useful when they were younger and I felt better sitting in the back seat with them.

I'm also super hardcore car seat safety conscious but would be totally fine with a 40 lb 4-yo sitting in the plane with the plane lap belt...planes are just an entirely different beast than cars.

Big kids here too -- I think when DS1 was 4 he had no carseat but for DS2 we still had it as he was a handful and the car seat kept him contained but for a kid who will sit nicely I'd be fine without a carseat on the flight and check them.