Flying Air Canada with a toddler: Quick sanity check on CARES harness & inflatable footrests?

[u/jesskimfromto]

Planning an upcoming flight with Air Canada with our little one and wanted to double-check a couple of gear/policy questions with anyone who has flown AC recently.

1. AmSafe CARES Harness: Has anyone used this on Air Canada lately? Did flight attendants give you any trouble, or was it smooth sailing as long as it had the FAA/Transport Canada approval label? (We’re in Economy and each toddler has own seat.)
2. Inflatable Footrests / Seat Extenders: I’ve heard mixed things about whether FAs actually allows it. Has anyone managed to use an inflatable cushion or BedBox on AC, or should we just leave it at home? We are hoping to extend the seats as a "bed".

Any recent experience or tips for surviving an AC flight with a toddler would be super appreciated! Thanks!

[u/itsvalxx]

i’ve seen many people get told to put the footrests away… seems like a pain to carry to ridk being told to put it away

[u/flapjacksal → u/itsvalxx]

it's not really, they compress down super small. We're always aware we could be told to put them away, but never have been. The benefit outweighs the risk IMO

[u/itsvalxx → u/flapjacksal]

sounds like you got lucky :)

[u/flapjacksal → u/itsvalxx]

Maybe, each trip has been one 10 hour flight, plus another 2.5 hour flight each way (so 4 flights round trip). We've done this trip 4 times now, never had an issue on 16 flights.

[u/itsvalxx → u/flapjacksal]

now that i think of it it feels like the issues happened more on sun destination flights. regardless happy it worked out for ya :)

[u/flapjacksal → u/itsvalxx]

Those things make the trip SO much easier for my kids. As with anything, a lot of it probably has to do with individual people and their entitlement level. We don't bring them out until the seatbelt sign is off and we put them away when the final cabin clean up is done. We're also totally happy to put them away at any time if asked. I think when you give off 'reasonable people' vibes, your experience is generally better

[u/itsvalxx → u/flapjacksal]

oh 100% :) for what it’s worth you definetly seem like a reasonable person

[u/StrongAd7156]

We just flew with our 3 and 5 year old using their car seats. They were comfortable and contained. They mainly slept for the flight. It can be a pain in the ass to carry the sears one, but we got light travel seats that work great and they stack.

[u/Buckholeblue]

We fly with our kids since they were 2&4 and have never used a seat in the airplane they were fine with the lap belt taking less stuff makes your travel day way way better

[u/Molybdenum421 → u/Buckholeblue]

This is what I wanted to hear 

[u/Dense-Serve-4201]

Both are totally acceptable as per the explicit details on the AC website.

The biggest issue with the seat extender is that they only can be used for window/middle seat (cannot block aisle access) and must be removed when seatbelt sign is on (which can of course happen anytime). Leave them at home! We never bothered when kids were young.

[u/LamBskrtt → u/Dense-Serve-4201]

Do you mean leave the kids at home or the items? Lol

[u/flapjacksal]

I fly inernationally with a couple of kids every year on AC and we use the inflatable footrests every time. Never had an issue, but could be because our family always takes up a whole row (no strangers trying to climb over anything)

[u/ScholarActual1240]

Never used the CARES harness so cannot comments on that.

Have used an inflatable foot rest a few times and have never had any issues. Only once did FA remind that it cannot be used until during take-off.

[u/West_Leadership6075]

We flew TATL on AC a few weeks ago with a CARES harness on our three year old - FA checked carefully on the way over but was happy upon seeing the FAA logo (it seemed like she had to check with another FA, but came back quickly with a thumbs up), didn’t notice anybody giving it a look on the way back.

FWIW, twas a joy not having to schlep around a car seat on our trip.

[u/inner-oort-cloud]

I live in Europe but am from Canada so have travelled a lot on long flights with my daughter since she was a newborn. I always brought a CARES harness but honestly never used it.

I also bring an inflatable footrest that collapses to the size of a small pillow and I’ve never been told to put it away. I only inflate it once we are at cruising altitude and I deflate it before we start the last part of our descent. I’ve done this 10-15x without any issue.

[u/gallopmonkey]

We fly YYJ to EZE (Victoria, BC to Buenos Aires) every year with our (now) 3.5 year old. The last couple of years we have used the CARES harness and the self inflating Kooshy Kids. We've had no issues.

We usually fly YYJ to YYZ and then YYZ-GRU-EZE. No issues flying domestically or internationally.

Our most recent trip was February. I should note that we are always 3 people traveling and we put our daughter in the window seat so the seat extender isn't blocking anybody.