Four-Year-Old and Carseat on Plane?

[Sun and Fun]

We are flying to Miami in Jan. for a cruise. We have always had our son in a carseat on the flights we've been on, but the last time was Jan. 2004 and he was 3. Now that he is 4-years-old, 42 inches tall, and 40 pounds (and is in a tall backed booster seat in the car that we use the regular across the chest seat belt with) should we bring one? I don't think the booster would make much difference with a lap belt. We have a car seat/booster with a five point harness in our other car that can be used either way, so we could bring that.

 

I will not be brining it on the islands because most/all of the transportation won't accommodate carseats (been to the Caribbean enough times to know). So should we bring one for the plane or not? What is the age limitation for needing one in a plane?

 

Thanks!

[cruisinqt]

If you can't use it anywhere except on the plane, it will be a pretty big burden for you to lug around all of the time. We usually bring ours everywhere with us but found that when cruising the only time you can really use it is while on the plane. It's too much work for just using it in that one place, so we don't bring ours onto the plane if we're cruising. Our daughter is 5, and there was no problem with her not having a car seat. I've seen other kids on planes around 3 or 4 with no car seats either. I think the ones that are 2 and under are required to have car seats. But you might check with the airline first before flying just to make sure, the info. should be on their website.:)

[savdoc2]

Booster seats without 5 point harnesses are not FAA approved and cannot be used on a plane. Personally I will not be taking a carseat for my 15 month old DD. The times I did take a car seat on the plane, she would not sit in it and since she has now flown 17 times, I will just hold her.

[Sun and Fun]

Thanks - you have confirmed what I was thinking. The less we have to lug around, the better.