My husband and I are taking our 23 month-old son on his first flight in a few weeks. It's a 4 hour, non-stop morning flight. We had originally planned NOT to bring his carseat at all, since we're renting a car with a carseat once we arrive at our destination. Our son is pretty calm and not a crazy active kid, but he also hates being restrained in his car seat during car rides, so we figured it was a no brainer to leave it behind and just have him sit in the middle seat between us. After reading so much conflicting advice all over the Internet, I feel like I have to choose between having a comfortable and happy kid who could possibly be flung all over the cabin during heavy turbulence OR a safely-secured screaming toddler for 4 hours. HELP. Looking for other people's recent experiences flying with toddlers! Thanks