Traveling with little ones is kind of daunting at first. But I promise once you get the hang of it you will want to go everywhere on your bucket list! A huge question in traveling with babies or toddlers is about the car seat. What’s the best car seat to travel with on a plane, in particular. And do you always bring it on the plane or check it to your final destination? As we’re getting ready to travel by air again soon, I thought I’d share what worked well for us with our first two kids. If you’re looking for tips and tricks on what to do about the car seat when traveling, read on!
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Traveling with a Car Seat: Tips & Tricks
Travel with an Infant Car Seat
We traveled with our first child as a lap infant until she was about 19 months old, when we started getting her a separate seat on the airplane. When she was really young and still in the infant seat, we would use that from home to the airport. (Our top pick for an infant seat that is travel-friendly: the Cosco Scenera Next.)
Then would gate check the car seat and stroller. When you get to your stop, you pick it up as you get off the plane. You don’t have to wait until baggage claim to get it, which is a big plus when you’re traveling with a little one! Plus, that way we had her own car seat for any vehicle travel once we got to our destination, like in our rental car.
We didn’t bring her seat on the plane with us, but if you think your child’s car seat is a better option for them on the plane (and it’s probably the safest way to keep them in their seat anyway), you can always book their own seat. At the time the best way for us to travel was to do the lap infant thing. (We would frequently book a window seat and aisle seat and hope that no one took the middle. You can’t book emergency exit rows with a toddler, just FYI.)
Travel with a Toddler Car Seat
Flying with a toddler who needs a convertible seat, you have the option of having them in the seat during airplane travel or just bringing it and checking it at the desk. I’ve heard of some parents who will always use the car seat as a travel seat vs. letting a child sit in the airplane seat without a car seat. We haven’t done that yet, but it’s nice to know it’s an option! (For some small children it’s probably the best option to keep them comfortable in a seat they’re used to.) Our choice out of the lightest seats is this one, which we found to be one of the best options out there.
For a long flight, it works well for young children because they’re kind of stuck. I find that a regular airplane seat belt is really different compared to their regular car seat. There is a highly recommended plane-specific child restraint system that puts a child in a five-point harness with shoulder straps vs. just the lap buckle. We haven’t tried it yet, but it has some great reviews! (Another bonus of using your regular all in-one car seat: Our everyday car seats have cup holders, which airplane seats obviously don’t have.) Also if you get unexpected turbulence, it’s nice to know that they’re safely buckled in vs. just in a lap belt. If you’ve never brought your seat for a car on a flight but want to, you can always ask the flight attendant for assistance getting it set up!
Car seat travel bags
It’s not required, but we like to use a car seat bag when we travel if we are checking the child seats. You don’t even need a high quality bag, but it’s a good idea to cover the seat to protect it from getting dirty. The last thing you want is to get to your vacation spot and have mystery stains on your child’s seat for a vehicle. We used this very basic travel bag, but recently we upgraded to a padded car seat travel bag with backpack straps (another great backpack car seat luggage option here) now that we fly with two seats for a car for our two young kids.
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