I don’t like flying.
Actually, let me clarify that: I don’t have a problem with flying, but I really don’t like airlines or airports. After frequent trips, I’ve learned to expect things to go wrong and try to do everything to reduce the hassles caused by the inevitable delays and cancellations. For example, thanks to my wife, we now pack a change of clothes for everyone and enough books and toys to keep our daughter busy, no matter how short the trip is supposed to be.
But you don’t think about some things until after they happen. For example, a few years ago United Airlines lost our car seat and stranded us at the airport with no safe way to get our 21-month-old to our destination. Although we were able to get her to our relatives and eventually got the car seat back, we swore we would do everything possible to avoid letting that happen again. Unfortunately, it seemed that this meant taking the car seat on board with us on all future trips. Not a big deal, but I wasn’t looking forward to moving between gates with carry-ons, a toddler AND a car seat. Plus some car seats won’t fit some plane seats, or even being allowed aboard by some flight attendants, something you typically won’t find out until you’re boarding.
But then we found CARES. To put it simply, this is the harness of your car seat, without the actual car seat.* Made of the same material used in seat belts, the harness weighs about 1 lb. and stores neatly in its own carrying pouch. See that picture to the left? That’s CARES in its storage pouch sitting in my daughter’s regular car seat. Which one would you want to carry through an airport?
CARES is FAA-approved for children over one-year-old and 22-42 lbs. and shouldn’t require special documentation to use on US flights (see the CARES website, www.kidsflysafe.com, for international information). But if you’re nervous, the CARES website also includes links to FAA documents you can print out just in case. Before our trip I also printed the relevant pages from our airline’s website and highlighted the parts that mentioned CARES to cover all the bases. See, I told you I didn’t like airlines.
Before our trip we watched the instructional DVD and practiced putting CARES on a chair. Installation is simple: you slide a loop around the back of the seat, tighten it, and run the seat’s lap belt through the bottom loops on the CARES belts. That’s it! Once everything is in place, you have a nice 4-point harness.** It takes just a few minutes, but I recommend trying it a few times at home so you know what to expect before you board the plane.
After four flights I can definitely say that CARES is awesome! Yes we had to arrange for a car seat at our destination, but it was worth it to avoid lugging a car seat around the airport. Plus our daughter loved having her own “special” seat, and stayed happily buckled-in except when we she stretched out to snuggle against us while sleeping.
We had no trouble using it on the planes and the only questions we fielded were from other passengers curious about CARES. This must be a common occurrence as the CARES package includes several small information cards you can hand out.
On most planes, the CARES belt fits underneath the tray table of the seat behind you. However, on some you’ll need to run the belt over the seat tray which prevents its use. The DVD mentioned this and we did come have a few flights with this issue. In each case, we just asked the person behind us to tell us when he wanted to open the tray so we could loosen the belt a bit. However even if the person behind you isn’t cooperative, you should still be able to use the CARES during takeoff and landing when seat trays are required to be closed.
At $75 (plus the costs of purchasing/renting a car seat at your destination), CARES is expensive, but it’s worth it if you frequently travel with your children. You can also find people renting CARES on eBay for around $14 for a few weeks. This is another option, but not one I’d recommend unless you’re very comfortable with the person from whom you’re renting.
*It’s important to note that CARES cannot be used in cars, so you’ll still need to arrange to rent or borrow a car seat at your destination.
**Unlike a typical car seat, CARES doesn’t have an anchor between your child’s legs. While not a safety issue on planes, it does mean that your child can slip out from underneath the harness if she tries and could be an issue if your child squirms around a lot.