CARES Kids Fly Safe aviation restraint is designed specifically for aviation use for children age 1 and older who weigh between 22 and 44 pounds. These youngsters are old enough to be in their own seats, but are too small for the seat belt alone to protect them. Their bodies cannot withstand the jolts that are common in routine transportation, much less emergency situations, and they flail forward or slide beneath the seat belt if they are not held securely in place.
Each year more and more young children fly. But until CARES Kids Fly Safe aviation restraint came along, what was missing was a convenient, hassle-free way to keep young flyers safe. Here's what makes CARES such an invaluable travel solution:
CARES Kids Fly Safe aviation restraint is the first and only aviation Child Safety Device to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an alternative to a car seat.
CARES Kids Fly Safe aviation restraint is an elegantly designed belt-and-buckle device that works in conjunction with the regular airplane seat belt and provides young travelers the same level of safety as a car seat.
CARES Kids Fly Safe aviation restraint weighs just one pound and fits into a 6" stuff sack! It is easily portable, simple to install, adjustable to nearly every size airplane seat, and usable on any seat in the airplane, except in the emergency exit rows.
Need your car seat on the other end of the trip? Just check it through as luggage and carry CARES Kids Fly Safe aviation restraint on board in your pocket!
CARES is manufactured exclusively by AmSafe Aviation, the foremost manufacturer of aviation seatbelts and pilot restraints in the world. (Turn over your airplane seat belt buckle. Chances are it says AmSafe.)
CARES is made of the same industrial-strength webbing as your own seat belt and is engineered to the highest aviation-safety standards.
INCLUDES: Restraint, instruction card, instruction video on DVD, and travel bag.
List Price:
$74.99
Our Price:
$63.95
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Product Details
Product Length:
9.0 inches
Product Width:
2.0 inches
Product Height:
6.0 inches
Product Weight:
1.0 pounds
Package Length:
9.4 inches
Package Width:
6.3 inches
Package Height:
2.4 inches
Package Weight:
1.3 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 142 reviews
Features
Safety harness designed specifically for aviation travel
Compact - fits into 6" stuff sack - weighs just 1 pound
Easy to install takes less than 1 minute
Adjusts to fit almost every size airplane seat
Designed for children 1 year and older weighing 22-44 pounds and up to 40" tall
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: ( 142 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
221 of 224 found the following review helpful:
Useful for shorter flights Jun 03, 2008
By Nikki Rehman
"Professional Mom"
We just bought the CARES restraint for our flight from Washington to Texas last month. We have the heaviest car seat ever made, I think, and I just wanted to check it, not struggle with it on the plane. The restraint did keep him in his seat, but I had two complaints.
First, I was disappointed that there was no strap between his legs to keep him from sliding down in his seat. I can see how one mother was concerned about strangulation, though I suspect if left to his own devices, my 2-year-old might have just finally managed to wriggle out of it altogether. In our case, I was frequently boosting him back up in his seat and had to keep a hand on him to keep him from wriggling back down during his fussiest moments. Now that I'm familiar with the problem, I may be able to rig a solution before we use it again.
My second concern was that the strap does go around the back of the child's seat, which means either you have to open the tray of the passenger behind you to install the strap, then close the tray back up, or in some cases (according to the instructions,) install the strap around the tray of the passenger behind you, rendering their tray useless and making it impossible to use the strap during the flight when that passenger would need their tray. Since I have this innate fear of annoying people, that would have really bothered me, but fortunately, since we are a family of five, we took up two rows anyway and I was able to make sure the baby was in front of one of us.
I would probably use it again for a four-hour flight like that one to avoid the hassle of maneuvering that car seat through the narrow aisles of a plane, but for longer flights I will probably stick with the car seat both for his sleeping comfort and my peace of mind.
Edited 11-12-10 to add: I never did use it again. I found it much less stressful to just buy the lightest, easiest-to-carry car seat I could find for traveling. We chose the 12.5 lb Cosco Scenera Convertible Car Seat from Target for under $50, and it's been fine - it just needs some extra head support for napping.
52 of 54 found the following review helpful:
Good child flight harness Apr 27, 2008
By Craig R. Weisz
"Family traveler"
This is a great product for kids who are too big to travel in a carseat but may be too small to be firmly held by a lap belt alone. Certainly this product is lightweight and portable, a pleasure after lugging carseats onto airplanes. It installs quickly and easily. The only downsides are that when it is fastened firmly, it's hard for the child to lean over and sleep. I loosened it so my son could lean to the side with a couple pillows. Also when it is pulled tight, the main strap pulls away from the seat and may not be comfortable for the child's head. Sometimes you have to play with the installation. Overall, though, it's a great product. While it may seem a little bit like overkill, after one bout of severe turbulence on an airplane, you will appreciate its value to keep your kids safely strapped to their seats.
59 of 63 found the following review helpful:
Not a great device May 07, 2008
By hollybloom24
"hollybloom24"
I bought two of these for my twin daughters (just turned three) for a flight to Jamaica. They certainly are easier to carry through an airport than a car seat, and easy to install, but the way the straps are situated, if you child falls asleep (as mine did) the strap/top buckle hit right around the neck if your child slides down or slumps at all, making the device quite dangerous. Our child literally had an indentation on her neck from this device. Several people sitting around us commented how dangerous the device could be to a sleeping child, including the flight attendant. (And yes, the device was correctly installed.)
If you choose to use the CARES harness, I would suggest only using it for take-off and landings, and use the regular lap belt during the flight.
27 of 31 found the following review helpful:
I don't like it... Jun 02, 2008
By Sarah Nissen We bought this for a trip I was taking by myself with my large, 34 inch tall 16 month old. I installed it correctly and put my son in it. It was very easy to install, but the red strap that fits around the seat was directly behind his head, making him keep his head forward. Also, as another reviewer stated, the chest strap was right under his chin, which I feared would decapitate him in an accident. Because there is no middle strap between the child's legs like in a carseat, they do slide down and the chest strap is literally at their neck. I even brought drawer liner with us and put it under my son's bum to keep him from sliding out, but it didn't help.
Lastly, the airplane seatbelt (we flew on American) didn't get tight enough to really keep him in place. He's a large child and at 26 pounds is way over the minimum weight of 20 lbs. I cannot imagine using this with a smaller child.
I ended up bringing his carseat on with us and using that on the flight back. I will be selling my CARES and getting this instead for next time. Go Go Kidz TravelMate - Black/ Orange
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
SUPERB product - so glad we bought it. Nov 17, 2009
By Jayne Lock 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.
based on 142 reviews
Useful for shorter flights Jun 03, 2008
By Nikki Rehman
"Professional Mom"
I don't like it... Jun 02, 2008
By Sarah Nissen
SUPERB product - so glad we bought it. Nov 17, 2009
By Jayne Lock
