CARES safety harness

What is a CARES safety harness?

The CARES harness is a type of safety device for children that has been approved for use inflight by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). This car safety seat alternative has an additional belt with a shoulder harness that goes around the back of the seat to secure your child’s upper body. It needs to be attached to the normal aircraft seat belt to hold it in place. More information about the CARES harness is available at www.kidsflysafe.com, Link opens in a new window operated by external parties and may not conform to the same accessibility policies as Cathay Pacific

You (or the child’s travelling companion) need to provide your own CARES harness. You must purchase a separate seat for the infant or child to use the harness in, and the seat will cost the price of a regular child fare.

You must inform reservation staff when you book the seat - and our ground staff at check-in - that you intend to use the CARES harness inflight.

Using the CARES safety harness

If you plan on using the CARES harness, please remember that your child should be:

• Seated in a forward-facing passenger seat of his or her own
• Able to comfortably sit upright and unsupported
• Under 1 metre tall
• Between 10kg (22 lbs) and 20 kg (44 l bs)
• Aged below 3

Please note that a child aged between 2 and 3 who weighs between 10 and 15 kg (22 and 33 lbs) is not required to use a CARES harness. 

If your child is aged over 3, CARES harness is not accepted for use on all our aircraft.  Instead, you can consider other types of Postural Support Equipment (PSE) which are accepted on our aircraft. For details, please click here.

Flight class and seats

CARES harness can only be used on seats without an airbag seat belt equipped in the following aircraft types:

¹ The cabin class is not available on this aircraft used, therefore the seat or harness cannot be set up
² The seat or harness is not available for the cabin class, therefore it cannot be requested

How best to use your CARES harness

Please read our tips to help use your CARES harness correctly. Your usage of the harness if your responsibility, so we ask you to check:

• The infant or child passenger does not exceed the weight or height limits of the harness
• The CARES harness is working normally
• The CARES harness is properly installed on the aircraft seat, following the manufacturer’s instructions
• The infant or child passenger is properly secured on the seat, following the manufacturer’s instructions
• The CARES harness has the correct FAA label attached, for checking by our staff.
• You may not use a CARES harness on seats in an exit row.
• If the infant or child passenger is to be carried on the responsible adult’s lap, you may not use a CARES harness for safety reasons. We will provide you with a Cathay Pacific Supplementary Loop Belt (SLB) instead.

More information

Please contact our Customer Care or your preferred travel agent and let them know any special requirements you may have for your infant or child.