Traveling with rear facing car seats

Is it safe to fly with children?  This is a common question in many internet forums.  Unfortunately, the advice given out seem to scare parents instead of offering sound safety advice.  Comments such as “Don’t you want your baby to be safe????  I would NEVER fly without a car seat on the plane!” or “You must use a car seat!  Turbulence could kill your little boy” are quite common.  What does data, statistics and real life experience say?

Focus should be on protecting children on the ground, safety on board is already safer than sitting down at the dinner table.  That ride to/from the airport in a car mean thousands of times higher risk for injury compared to the actaul flight.

Everything we know today says flying, with or without a car seat, is the safest thing a parent can do with a child.  Despite the incredibly high number of flights, 25 000+ per day in US alone,  it’s almost unheard of to have a child (or adult) injured or die on board a plane due to turbulence.  It’s also incredibly rare, one has to dig really deep, to find even one single child which was saved purely by using a car seat in a crash.  A parent should therefore feel very secure about flying with a baby regardless if using a car seat, lap belt or just holding baby in the lap.

Facts also show lap belts give both adults and children plenty of protection, injuries or deeaths are extremely rare when a lap belt is used.

Turbulence in the skies over the United States has killed two passengers since 1980 and injured more than 316, plus at least 138 flight attendants, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Fifty-five turbulence related accidents were reported during the period 1982-1991, ranging from a maximum of 10 in 1986 to three in 1989.  One fatality and 79 serious injuries were reported, ranging from 14 serious injuries in 1986tp four sserious injuries in 1983″ (US Federal Aviation Administration)

Most were hurt because they were not wearing seat belts, even though the ”fasten seat belt” sign had been turned on.

Flying without a car seat is perfectly safe and no parent should be worried about risks while in the air.

Despite being perfectly safe without car seats on board planes there are still good reasons to bring them on board.  Reasons which has nothing to do with safety.  Why bring a car seat on board?

• A familiar car seat might calm kids down
• A car seat might help children  sleep better
• A car seat on board means no risk of damage to  car seat together with regular luggage
• Using a car seat at your final destination should be a goal for every parent since this statistically is thousands of times more dangerous than flying.  Bringing a car seat on board means having a car seat arrive at destination for sure.

What about if you want to fly with a car seat and it’s not certified or doesn’t fit on board?  I’ve done 50+ flights with my children and always pack our rear facing car seats in padded car seat bags.  Our seats come with us regardless of location in the world.  Checking the bags as luggage isn’t an ideal solution but when seats can’t be brought on board or gate checked it’s a good compromise.

I usually wrap our seats in bubble wrap before packing them and also protect them further by filling the car seat bag with clothing  and diapers. At arrival seats are inspected for damage and installed in airport van/limousine/rental car, friends car.

For your next flight, bring your car seat on board if desired but focus mainly on keeping your children safe in the car.  They are already incredibly safe on board the plane.