At what age will you/did you stop using car seats on airplanes?

[cdlamis]

I never thought about not using one for my 2 year old, but I recently read here about someone (a car seat tech) not using one for toddlers since the regular seat belt does it's job. It makes sense but I just want to make sure that its ok to not use one (now or someday). What age is ok?

We are travelling internationally next month and I would LOVE not to bring a car seat on the plane. I bought Julia her own ticket so she will have her own seat and we can borrow a car seat when we arrive at our destination.

Thoughts, suggestions, etc?? TIA!

Daniella
Mom to Julia 6-13-02
And another little girl EDD 12-30-04!!

[Joolsplus2]

Hehehe, probably me...I always travel alone, and the one time I brought a car seat, dd (2) screamed screamed screamed till I took her out to hold her and rock her to sleep. Of course now they are both older, and I haven't brought a seat in awhile.
Two things to weigh: If you have two adults, bringing a seat is a lot easier. OR if you have two adults, you can always leave and go to the bathroom, so you don't need a seat so much (containment is key). It's up to you to assess your comfort with risk taking. For me, airplane trips aren't risky enough to worry too much about car seats, whereas moms with more fortitude will bring seats for kids as long as they fit in them (Kudos to those moms, I must say!).
Anyway, I found the seatbelt to fit well on my kids from as young as age 2 (low on the hips), and it has never taken too much reminding to get them to stay buckled for the whole trip (or most of it). They sleep ok...well...no, they don't...lol...but we bring lollipops and post-it notes (those are good quiet fun on a plane!) and somehow find a way to pass the time (5 hours to grandma's house...and each of my kids has been 7 or 8 times!)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[hipmaman]

LOL, my kids are 3 and 5 yrs old now and we'vs always travelled with their carseats. There is the safety issue on the plane, but also because we always need their carseats at the destinations, so have always just brought their seats.

It's a habit for all of us now. The kids have their own seats/carseats, dh and I have our comfort even when they were little babies. They usually stay put in their seats and not too often that they ask to walk around.

Honestly, I don't know when we would stop with the carseats on the plane. But I guess as long as they need a carseat at the destination and we have 5pt harness seats that can be used on the airplane, we would probably continue using them on the plane.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I'll keep using a car seat on an airplane as long as it is allowed. (meaning as long as she fits into a car seat that the airline allows to be used)

A lap belt on a plane is no safer than a lap belt on a car, and those are not safe even for adults. But especially not for children. The way it was described to me is to think about what happens when you fold a tube of toothpaste in half. That is what happens to a childs internal organs in a crash with a lap belt.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/borntobebreastfed2.gif

[debsten]

I took a car seat for my dd until she was just over 2, reason I stopped was the same as Julie. I was on a 15 hr (direct) trip alone with dd from Australia and I put the seat on, and well trying to keep a 2 year old in a seat for 14 hrs is pretty much on the impossible side. she stayed in it the first few hours as she would on a normal shorter flight but after that as can be expected she wanted to get up and about and sit with me and eat with a tray. It made the trip really hard as she would fight and scream not to get in the seat and being in a confined space and trying to get this to work is really hard, especially when you know you still have 11hrs to go.

For shorter trips I will use the seat, but most of our travel is international to Australia which means the 15hr flight.

Like Julie said you really need to assess the risk versus comfort for your circumstances.

Good luck
Debbie