Lap Child vs Car Seat on Airplanes, Cabs and Buses

I held my son. He would have ended up in my lap anyway, so I wasn't going to pay for the additional seat. However, It was my husband and I, so we could trade off on holding him.

HI L.,
We actually were the crazy parents that took both our children on the plane in their carseats, yes, two adults, two carryons, two carseats, and two toddlers. I am glad we did--the plane ride itself was great. We bought two of the Tote a Tots that hook the carseat onto your carryon. This GREATLY helped us maneuver around the airport. You hook the carseat onto the carryon and can even put the child in the carseat. IT worked. We did have to take the carseat off to get on the plane since the carseats are TOO wide to role down the aisle....if the plane will seat you first it is not really an issue, but one flight they would not seat us first and it was difficult to fight the crowd with the load we had. I recommend it for this purpose though.

I still have them so if you want one just let me know....they are not too cheap but we don't need them any longer. check the site for them to make sure your carryon is big enough....my friend had a small carryon and it did not work with her Large carseat....ours worked fine but our carryons are more of average size.

If she generally does well in her car seat in the car, I would honestly lug the thing around. She's big enough that she's going to want to be mobile in some of those cases and a wiggling (maybe fussing) child is a whole lot harder to handle than one that will sit in their car seat and be more easily distracted with books, toys, etc. - i.e., you'll have two hands.

My older son was an extremely calm and quiet child when he was that age, so we could travel with him as a lap child. My younger son was nursing at that age, so it was reasonable. If neither of those two apply, then again, I would go with the car seat. We also weren't getting off and on a ship - we checked the car seat when they were lap children, so we had it for the rental car.

We always take the car seat on the plane, mainly because my daughter doesn't want to move around as much. If she is in her car seat she knows that it is not safe to get out. If we hold her in our lap she wants to wiggle around, and play (same thing if he has her own seat without a car seat). I would highly recommend the car seat for the plane, just to maintain your own sanity! =) I also recommend having your husband board first, load the car seat and get everything situated. If you board last with your daughter she spends less time in the plane so she is not as antsy, and she is not in the way while you are getting situated.

As for the cabs and buses, we don't take the seat. My daughter is 3 and will going on her third cruise in March, because I am worried about the buses and cabs we usually walk everywhere. So we stay close to the port and shop or something, on occasion we will go 5-10 miles from port but that is about it. Not to mention many of the countries have laxed rules about driving safely so I am scared to death of accidents (with or without a car seat).

Good luck, and have fun on your cruise.

I agree with the other advice! Take the car seat!!

I have 3 girls, ages 1, 3 and 5 We travel quite a bit, including on cruises. The best stroller/seat to use is the sit n stroll which duals as a car seat and a stroller. With that said, we have travelled with our girls on our laps when they were less than 2 years old. Since they are 2 years apart, we have never had more than one on our lap on a plane. The bus ride to and from the pier is generally not long. You are probably fine holding onto your daughter, but just know that nothing is as safe as having her strapped into a car seat. We have done it before, with all 3 girls...but you have to feel okay about it.

Hi L.,

I would for sure buy another seat on the plane. We took our daughter who at the time was 15 months and didn't buy an extra seat and it was a trip from you know where. She wanted down and didn't want me to hold her. She usually is very good, but with their ears adjusting some great kids can turn into horrible ones. See if the cruise ship has a car seat that you can rent. We didn't take ours with us, but we had some friends that borrowed one. That would be way too much stuff to carry around. Hope you have fun on your trip. I can tell you that we got lucky enough on the others flights throughout our trip that we happened to have a seat between us and it was great. She was much better. Call the airline and ask them how crowded the flight is and see what they say.

We always brought the car seat with us when our boys were younger. It's so much easier to keep them in their seat on the plane and they are more likely to sleep in their own seat. Also, I just feel safer with my kids in a 5 point vs just the lap belt, even for minor things such as turblance. Most airports have those luggage carts, which made it a lot easier to carry everything, so keep that in mind.

We traveled to Jamaica when my younger son was almost 2. We strapped his carseat into the bus that took us from the airport to the resort. I felt much safer with him in the seat (the traffic in other countries scare me) and I KNOW that he would had been wandering that bus if he wasn't securly strapped in.

Good luck with your trip!! Remember, things are usually much easier than you think they are going to be on trips like that!

I traveled quite a lot when my son was less than a year old and got a seat as often as I could. I took southwest as much as possible, so I didn't always book the extra seat, but I did take the car seat with us and it was always much more comfortable for everyone! Check out http://www.gogobabyz.com/products/gogo_kids.html - I bought this and it was VERY helpful. I'd put my little guy in my ergo baby carrier (piggy-back style), and put my carry on and diaper bag on top of the carseat and pull it through the airport. The wheels come off pretty easily for scanning, though sometimes you have to take the frame off the carseat. That's the only annoying part - otherwise, it was great. Contact me if you have questions about it.

Have fun on your trip!

Does she like to be held? We booked a flight to NY last year with our (then) 1 ½ year old and 3 year old boys. We chose to take 1 car seat on the plane sine the 3 year old had to have an assigned seat and check the other and have our little guy on our lap.

Bottom line was, the car seat is a familiar, comfortable and safe environment that they are used to. My little guy was HORRIBLE! He squirmed, cried, wanted to get down, and seemed very nervous. He finally fell asleep in my arms (what a relief) but then I was not able to enjoy a coke or snack myself. My older boy was perfect, enjoyed the window seat, was up high enough to see out and the tray table was a good level to color and watch a DVD.

We wished that we had just paid the extra $200.00 for another assigned seat and taken 2 car seats on the plan. Just my opinion :-) BTW… we had a 3 hour drive when we got there and needed them for the rental car anyway.

Good luck and have a nice vacation!
E.