Cares Airplane Safety Travel Harness For Kids - Toddler Travel Restraint - Provides Extra Safety For Children on Flights - Light Weight, Portable, Easy to Store and Installs In Minutes.

This nifty device takes the place of your FAA approved car seat for those times when you are flying with a tiny passenger. We've used it on a couple of trips now and it really works great. Here are some main points to consider based on our experience:Pros:* Compact and Light: Before getting this device, my wife and I brought along our Britax Marathon carseat Britax Marathon 70 Convertible Car Seat, Onyx (I) onto the plane to secure our daughter, age 2 (at that time). Being the behemoth that it was, we also brought aboard our stroller Maclaren Quest Sport Stroller, Black/Champagne just to hold the carseat. And, of course, the kiddie go bag with toys, books, wipes, etc. All this, and we haven't even gotten to the luggage yet. Laden as we were, we looked for all the world like a Himalayan expedition as we boarded the plane. Enter the CARES system. This little collection of straps weighs about a couple of pounds, stows in its own bag, and easily fits into your carry-on bag. What!? Yes, it's a dream for tiny traveling humans and their parental charges. Most importantly, though, it is...* Effective: This device is FAA approved but most importantly, it keeps your small loved-one safe. What it does is mimics the harness system found on most carseats: Straps come down over the shoulders, and have a sternum buckle that latches over the chest. The bottom of the straps that come over the shoulders have loops on the bottom to accommodate the airline seat belt straps. For many tiny passengers, this is a huge improvement over wearing a lap belt alone. my little Houdini could wriggle out of her lap belt in about 10 seconds, flat It is adjustable and works well to keep your toddler-sized fellow traveler safe and snug.* Quality: The materials, from automotive-quality nylon webbing to aircraft-style buckle, are all top notch. The stitching is clean and tight and the whole thing is built to last. Included on the strapping itself are pictogram instructions on how to use it and even a 'belongs to' sticker so it can find its way back to you if you leave it on the plane. A very clear instruction card is also included, which fits into the carry sack along with the strap system. Mine also came with an instructional DVD, which was a super way to orient myself to the system and practice before the craziness of the whole toddler-air-travel thing.* Value: I think this is reasonably priced. Yes, it could be cheaper, though I don't begrudge the maker a reasonable profit that - given the seeming lack of competing alternatives on the market - doesn't strike me as being overly large.* Stress Relieving: Yes, I had peace of mind knowing that my daughter was safer in her seat because of this device, but what I am really talking about is not having to wrangle a bulky, heavy carseat onto the plane, attaching and removing it from the cramped coach class cubby that masquerades as a seat, and then hauling it all the way from the plane to baggage claim - all the while keeping track of your overly-excitged toddler. Nightmare. Toddler-traveling-parents, you know what I am talking about. My wife was actually able to travel with my daughter using this harness and didn't need medication after the trip. Priceless!Cons:* Limited Capacity: One downside to this device is that it is limited to a relatively narrow range of toddler: under 40 inches in height and between 22 and 44 pounds. How they came to those numbers is a mystery, but that's what the label says. Also, they need to be able to sit upright on their own. So, within that range, you are set, but depending on how fast your child grows, you may not get a lot of use out of this.* Challenging to Use: Potentially. Given that you need to strap part of this around the entire seat, you will need at least some understanding, if not cooperation, of the passenger behind your child. Depending on the configuration of the seatback tray, that may be impacted by the strap. My take on this is, if you are already a savvy carseat user, you'll have no problems with this apparatus; if your carseat's straps give you fits, so likely will this.* Not Universally Perfect: This is not a perfect device. With some airline seats that are made of pleather and have the ergonomic values that a piece of granite would admire, your child will be just as likely to slide inexorably toward the floor as without it: Unlike a carseat, this strap system has no crotch strap. there just isn't any way of making it with one So, depending on the seat, what your child is wearing, and his or her wriggle index, this may be an issue.Final Thoughts:While this is not the perfect answer to safe air travel with your toddler, it is a very good and effective effort and should work well for most. Even with its limitations - and assuming my child is still within specs - I consider this a vast improvement from dealing with the carseat. I know my wife does, too. This is the best system I've seen and consider it money well spent. It is well thought-out and executed, instructions for use (labels, instruction card, instructional DVD) are outstanding, it is safe and tested, and it remains the best alternative to a full-size carseat I've come across. Five stars from our personal experience.

After reading reviews we were in two minds whether or not to bother with this - I'm SO glad we did! It worked exactly as we hoped it would.We have just returned from a visit to UK with our 16-month old son and this worked perfectly for us. J is at the point where he will make short shrift of wriggling right out of my arms if he doesn't want to sit on my lap so we were not looking forward to taking our 'lap child' on an internal flight followed by a transatlantic flight with a long car drive at each end.A few plus points:1) J was traveling as a lap child so we did not want to haul his car seat with us only on the off chance of him even having a seat - the CARES harness slipped easily into our hand luggage. (As it happened we talked with the check-in attendant and on both journeys managed to get a whole row of 4 seats all to ourselves - for anyone who doesn't already do this, it's ALWAYS worth a lengthy chat about where they're trying to seat you both at check-in, at the gate and even once you're seated if the plane is clearly not full!).2) The harness fitted easily and securely over the seat as per the instruction. Passengers behind us were not in the least bit bothered about the few seconds it took to slip it over the chair back and under their table.3) We strapped J into it without him even batting an eye - I think he thought he was just being strapped in like he would be in his car seat and was very content to sit still.4) It took only a minute or so to make sure the harness was properly adjusted and J seemed very comfy and content in it. On the long flights He happily remained in it all the way through taxiing and takeoff and the first drinks and meal service. However, since each time we had 2 empty seats between myself and my husband when it was 'bed/nap time' we lay J in between us in his long sleep sack (so I could sit on one end of it for extra security!) and with the normal lap belt wrapped around his middle. He was very happy to go back into the harness once he was up again and for the landing and taxiing.5) J stayed in the harness for the whole of the last flight from Philly to Detroit and was more content than if he was being made to sit on my lap. We did go through some heavy turbulence and I was very glad to have him so securely strapped in. He barely moved.No negatives as such but a few points of caution...1) Despite the stated height and weight range children are supposed to be at least 2 years old to use this item. Since J is tall and heavy for his age we were happy to use it, and thankfully so were North West and US Airways.2) Check with your airline to make sure they will allow you to use it, esp. if traveling outside the USA. In our experience with it on this one trip, North West were totally fine with it, US Airways were fine but did remind us he was supposed to be 2 even though they were happy for us to do what we preferred (their alternative is holding your child on the lap with no seat belt at all!), Lufthansa did not allow us to use it during taxiing, takeoff or landing (they insisted I hold him and we use an additional lap strap instead) but were okay with it's use during the flight.3) Like any car seat or restraint, don't presume your child will be comfy enough to sleep whilst using it... more an issue of sitting upright than the harness itself. That said, if they sleep well enough in a car seat I can't see why they wouldn't with this.4) Even if properly fitted the large adjusters/buckles on the front vertical straps may be uncomfortable for a child depending on how the harness fits them. I preempted this by taking the cosy covers off our stroller straps (JJ Cole velcro fastening ones) and placing them over the buckles. Jack was fine and may even have been fine without these but I felt it was nicer around his shoulder/neck/chin area to have the extra cushiness.5) We did have to hitch J up a few times in his seat but this was nothing major and certainly no worse than if he was just using the lap belt.All in all I would highly recommend this product to anyone flying with young children.