18 Month Old ? Airplane

[LMO429]

Hi my son will be 18 months old when we travel to wdw in May.

He currently is 21 pounds and 30 inches. I purchased him his own seat on the airplane. Our last trip I brought my nuna pipa car seat with us because he had his own seat on the plane and we rented a car.

This upcoming trip I am not renting a car so really have no need for a car seat other than for the airplane?

Has anyone used the cares harness? Thoughts on that

He will be too small for the nuna pipa come May so what are my other options car seat wise for the plane? Some of the convertible car seats are massive I really do not want to have to lug it around

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

We are flying Jetblue

TIA

 

[Betty Rohrer]

at that age I would bring the car seat as he is used to traveling that way. he would be small for cares harness and just the lap belt which most likely he will be able to climb out of

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Your son is just under the weight limit for a Cares harness now, but by May he will be more than big enough. I would go with that rather than lugging a car seat. You can rent them on eBay if you don't want to buy one.

 

[Muskrat191]

The Cosco Scenera Next is an awesome car seat for travel. It is very lightweight, and I think it is around $50 at Walmart. (I'm in Canada, so I'm not up to date on American car seat prices.)

 

[DopeyDame]

At 18 months, the CARES harness might be a good option, but be aware that it doesn't have a leg harness to keep a kid from wiggling down, so you have to make a behavior judgement call on that.
We've always just traveled with the carseat the kids were currently using in the car. They are most comfortable in it because they are familiar and I know how to install it and operate it quickly and easily. My absolute favorite for flying is the Britex Roundabout, but obviously that's way to expensive to buy just for the plane trip.
There are carseat bags that come with backpack straps that may help. At 18months, I typically wore my kids in an ergo and put the carseat in the stroller to wheel through the airport. Then gate checked the stroller and used the carseat on the plane.

Our next trip to WDW will be the first time we've been able to fly without a carseat in 7 years. I am *SOOO* excited!

 

[Becca1007]

We have used both the CARES harness and the Cosco Scenera Next on flights recently with our 18 month old. The CARES harness was obviously easy to transport and install but since it uses the lap belt there was nothing to keep the little man from wiggling down and trying to get out of the seat belt. I would recommend the car seat still at that age.

 

[nycdisneygal]

At that age we used the car seat...I think my DD was more comfortable than with the CARES.

 

[epsmith921]

We personally brought the convertible, and it was worth the hassle. My little guy was 18 months the last time we flew and we just put the car seat forward facing on the plane. We tried the little strap to attach the seat to our wheeled bag and I was probably doing it wrong and it was a nightmare. While on our short trip, we had the go go babyZ wheely thing for the seat sent to our resort. (Amazon is the greatest!). So easy and nice!

Our seat manufacturer also had videos on YouTube of how to install the seat on a plane so that was nice.

Anyway, he slept in the seat which would have been pretty impossible without it or me holding him I think. We just parked his seat in our room during our trip. Or maybe the closet? Either way, it worked for our air travel purposes

 

[Habbott]

Definitely car seat. I would second or third the cosco scenera next for traveling. It's a super light seat to carry, and it fits well on a plane seat. While it's not as easy as the cares harness, it will for sure keep him safer.

 

[Terapin]

Some airlines they need to be 2 to use a Cares harness. For instance, Air Canada under 2 must be on parent's lap or in a car seat.