CARES helps children fly safely

Flying with a little one brings with it concerns over safety that parents struggle to find easy answers for. Bria is small for her age — about 30 pounds at age four — and we really feel most comfortable if she is buckled into a car seat, especially for take-off and landing.

But if you’ve ever tried lugging a car seat through the airport (especially on an international trip), you know it is far from convenient. Even with the wheeled cart to turn it into a semi-stroller, there’s nothing simple about traveling with a convertible seat in tow. I am certain I have said at least once that I would NEVER do it again!

Enter the CARES Airplane Safety Harness – an excellent answer for a frustrating dilemma. Made for kids 22-45 pounds and up to 40 inches tall, it helps kids fly safe in an FAA-approved way.

The CARES weigh less than one pound, and fits easily in any purse, diaper bag, or carry on – that’s a stark comparison to the Britax car seat we used to lug along! Now we check the car seat (free on most airlines), and don’t have to deal with it until we reach our destination.

Installation is simple, taking just a few short steps. It even comes with a card to share with the flight attendant or anyone else who might be wondering about the seat (we always get asked). Additional documentation is also available for download on the FAA website.

We have found that if there are any indentations in the seat to contain the tray table, the strap doesn’t work underneath it. Unfortunately this means the strap has to go over the top, effectively rendering the tray table of the person behind you useless. For this reason, if we will need seats in more than one row, we usually book two rows in front of each other, rather than next to each other, so we don’t have to inconvenience other travelers. Of course, that doesn’t always work, so be prepared to smile big, apologize lots, and remove it promptly outside of take-off and landing times.
Traveling with kids can be hairy — the CARES system relieves some stress, which means I’m all about it!

UPDATE: Not all airplanes are created equal! We have found that there are plane seats the CARES does not seem to be compatible with. When the seat front is concave, it makes the strap the shoulder pieces hang off sit out away from the seat, pushing her head forward. Unfortunately that made the harness very difficult to use on this particular plane.