Recommendations for a travel seat for a 1 year old?

Beefy McGee

Beefy McGee

Well-Known Member
Looking to start non-revving with the kiddo soon. He’s almost a year old. Looking for recommendations for travel seats that work well in airliners.

I’m also interested in general tips on non-revving with infants/toddlers.

We have his original car seat, which he probably still fits in weight-wise but might be at the limit on with his height.

We also have a much larger car seat, one of those that grows with the kid so to speak, but I am concerned that would be too big for airline passenger seat use. Mostly because it would block the seat in front from reclining, and from what I have picked up at work, those would not be allowed on.
 
Beefy McGee said:
Looking to start non-revving with the kiddo soon. He’s almost a year old. Looking for recommendations for travel seats that work well in airliners.

I’m also interested in general tips on non-revving with infants/toddlers.

We have his original car seat, which he probably still fits in weight-wise but might be at the limit on with his height.

We also have a much larger car seat, one of those that grows with the kid so to speak, but I am concerned that would be too big for airline passenger seat use. Mostly because it would block the seat in front from reclining, and from what I have picked up at work, those would not be allowed on.
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CARES harness.

Homepage - Kids Fly Safe
 
We have tried so many things and finally got comfortable with this set up (light weight). We tried the harness but ultimately we liked having a car seat of our own with us for the rental car. I hooked a caribiner on the back of the car seat to attach the strap so we don't lose it.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cosco-Scenera-Next-Convertible-Car-Seat-Bloom/41126740
And
Traveling Toddler Car Seat Travel Accessory https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JHN3AS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_0bVSBbBMY6E52
IMG_1040.JPG
 
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Beefy McGee said:
Looks good down the road. Not sure if he is old enough to not be rear-facing yet. From the safety manuals on our current car seats, he’s too young and doesn’t meet certain development benchmarks. Need to look at those guidelines again to be sure though.
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Just remember that longer rear facing is better...the age/height/weight guidelines are minimums.
 
I’m nonrevving with my 7 month old in her chicco keyfit 30 car seat today for the 1st time. I’ll let you know how it goes.
 
For a less than 12 month old, I held on to that little ballistic missile.

When he was 16 months on he had his own seat and could usually sit and keep himself occupied for three hours.
 
Car seat, favorable load, and chocolates for the cabin crew did wonders. It was a great peace of mind having her in the car seat rather than trying to hold on to her for 3 hours.

We had a bottle ready for her for the climb out and decent. That worked great to help her clear her ears.

Good luck!
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Oh bother.

There’s a reason I derisively refer to them as “projectiles” while reviewing the manifest.
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Perhaps. But like the O2 above FL250 rule, I'd like to see real injury/fatal records of BIAs.

People with BIAs today already take so much time to get off the plane. You throw in FAA mandated car/flight seats, and it's gonna triple the current get-off-the-plane time for these people. Not to mention, during an emergency evac it's one more added thing in a moment of panick for a parent to have to unstrap and take the kid out. Real life adult passengers have died when even though they survived the crash, they were unable to get out of the plane because in the sheer panic they didn't think (or couldn't) unbuckle their own seat belt. That's happened several times with different accidents. Now you have the added pressure in a time-compressed situation with a panicked adult to un-do a 5 point harness with a child.

And yes I'm aware during the UAL DC10 crash landing baby bodies flew forward, but that was mostly due to the idiotic requirement to put the baby on the floor and hold them down with your hand. But then again more than half the adult passengers on that plane died so the chances were low anyway.
 
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Well, our 11 month old son’s first flight trip has happened. We non-revved to a family funeral over the weekend. Two 1.5 hour legs each way and he did great. Slept most of the time. Laughed during takeoffs and slept through all four landings. Loves having the overhead vents blowing his hair around.

We booked a seat for him and used a car seat. A Cosco Scenera Next seat from Walmart. Only cost $40. Not the most comfy seat maybe (not a lot of padding) but lightweight and easy to transport and install. It actually gives the kid more wiggle room in the seat due to it not having all the extra stuff the more expensive seats have. We will figure out some way to add padding before longer flights but the kid seems to like the seat. Maybe at 25 lbs the padding is adequate.

We got stuck overnight in CLT on Monday due to an earlier flight to our final destination getting cancelled, which took our flight from 25 seats available to oversold by a bunch instantly. There were several cancellations in CLT on Monday, so hotels and rental car prices went sky high. $322 for a rental from CLT to home. We wound up getting half off our hotel room though due to some issues with the microwave, fridge, and a front desk person with zero F’s who didn’t want to help us get a pack-n-play for the kid.

Only real dumb issue was a company FA on flight #3 who had us relocate the car seat to the right side window due to “not enough masks” on the left side. But that’s only a concern for two adults and a lap baby, not one adult and the kid has his own seat. But whatever. I moved the kid to the other side of the aisle then looked up the mask stuff in the FOM on my iPad and politely educated the FA later on the masks.

All in all, good first flights for the young’n. Even got all four crews to sign his AA kiddie logbook.
 
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ClarkGriswold said:
We have tried so many things and finally got comfortable with this set up (light weight). We tried the harness but ultimately we liked having a car seat of our own with us for the rental car. I hooked a caribiner on the back of the car seat to attach the strap so we don't lose it.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cosco-Scenera-Next-Convertible-Car-Seat-Bloom/41126740
And
Traveling Toddler Car Seat Travel Accessory https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JHN3AS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_0bVSBbBMY6E52
View attachment 45128
Click to expand...

Yep, we got the simpler model of that seat. We got a luggage strap and passed it through the car seat and around my bag drag handle. Works well.
 
Beefy McGee said:
Looking to start non-revving with the kiddo soon. He’s almost a year old. Looking for recommendations for travel seats that work well in airliners.

I’m also interested in general tips on non-revving with infants/toddlers.

We have his original car seat, which he probably still fits in weight-wise but might be at the limit on with his height.

We also have a much larger car seat, one of those that grows with the kid so to speak, but I am concerned that would be too big for airline passenger seat use. Mostly because it would block the seat in front from reclining, and from what I have picked up at work, those would not be allowed on.
Click to expand...
I hate to go all ron swanson, but cradle the one year old in your arms, and when he falls asleep on you at 550mph in the safest form of travel in the world you'll know what peace is.
 
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