A Better Way to Take Care While Traveling

Traveling, especially air travel through airports, security and plane aisles, turns into a backbreaking experience when you have to haul around a heavy, awkward car seat for your child and safety is our top priority, so we do it.  But is there a better solution?

Now that answer is “yes.” And we can all thank Louise Stoll, a grandmother of nine, because she has designed the first harness type child safety device certified by the FAA.  It’s called CARES.  And it’s a lifesaver in more ways than one.

“I thought I would never be able to travel with Palmer,” said Fia Richmond, who suggested we write a story about the CARES harness. “Now when we do fly, I know that Palmer is safe and CARES literally fits into my purse.  It helps us have an easier family flying experience."

CARES has a wonderful website where you find out all about their product and you can order the harness from them as well. The web site is: http://www.kidsflysafe.com/.  Soon you will find CARES in stores, but for now, there are only about three stores in the USA where you can find the harness so purchasing online is probably your best bet.

But let us give you a few more details about this unique product.

• CARES 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 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 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 on board in your pocket!
• CARES is made by the same people who manufacture 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.

There are currently a few drawbacks, however, and they are that the harness is for children who weigh between 22 and 44 pounds sitting in their own seats. And for the international travelers, certification is still pending for the European Union and Canada, so be sure you check with your airline before you travel outside the USA.
 
The harness has only been available since late 2006 with years in the making of course and testing for safety to meet FAA certification.  So keep checking back with them because we suspect that a harness for older children will be the next offering; plus soon, worldwide airlines will be accepting this device as an alternative to the car seat. Traveling and flying safe with our children is important and we now have one more tool to help us make it easier.