First plane trip with 2 kids + 2 car seats, need some advice UPDATE#19

[joules]

We will be visiting my mom in Houston in a few weeks (she's getting cancer treatment from MD Anderson). I'm getting a bit nervous about the trip.

DH has booked a mid size rental car and I think we will be bringing our 2 car seats with us: Britax Boulevard and Britax Frontier. They are huge! Should we rent car seats instead? DS2 is still rear facing.

We will park our minivan at the airport so we will have to take the shuttle to the airport. How am I going to get 2 kids (4yo and 2yo), our luggage, and 2 car seats onto the shuttle, off the shuttle, through TSA and then finally through the airport?

It looks like I have 3 options:
(1) Car seat backpack. I don't know how often I would use it? I'm only 5'2"...I can totally see myself whacking everyone with this while I'm running after my kids.
(2) What about securing it to our rolling luggages? Has anyone done this before? Are the straps better or would a bungee cord work somehow? If we decide to use this way, that means we will have to make sure we have 2 carry on luggages so we can wheel the car seats around after our regular luggage(s) are checked in. But then we will also have other luggage(s) to push around too.
(3) Car seat transporter. This seems awfully expensive if we have to buy 2 of them and I'm not even sure how often we'd be flying with car seats. And again, how do push 2 of these plus all our existing luggage?.... And coral 2 kids?

We will be gate checking the car seats. Do I need some kind of protective cover over them?

I don't plan on bringing a stroller. We don't plan on doing anything that would require one. Let me know if this is a bad idea.

ETA: DH is coming with me.
ETA2: We have the Britax Boulevard and Frontier (I previously incorrectly said Roundabout and Marathon.)

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'd rethink the stroller and I am not a stroller person. Is your dh going with you? If not, you'll want options for putting a little one somewhere safe while dealing with things like food or bathrooms, ime. If your dh is going with you, I'd consider having him drop you and at least one kiddo at the terminal prior to parking. Unload and check what you can right away.

I would plan to check your ds1's carseat so you will only have to deal with one carseat in security and on the plane. I've always had good luck checking it but I know others will chime in to counter that. I wouldn't rent a carseat- too risky. My dh had a shoulder bag for the carseats. He either wore that or put it in the stroller.

[vonfirmath]

Is your husband going with you? If so, you'll be fine. I'd take at least a single stroller you can bungee-cord a car seat into. It will help.

I've never travelled on my own with two kids. But I travelled on my own with DS when he was barely turned 2 and almost 3 and the Britax Marathon (And Roundabout50 the other trip) and it was perfectly doable. Car seat attached to stroller. Kiddo either on a leash or buckled into his car seat in the stroller. (The leash was important for keeping him from running off while taking the contraption apart ahead of security and putting it back together afterward!) Backpack on my back. A bag over my shoulder and a waist pouch for purse stuff. that was enough to keep up with! I would NOT have wanted rolling luggage while manipulating kids.

It was a bit difficult to handle luggage ahead of the ticketting line. But we managed. Another option is to get dropped off outside and check your baggage at curb-side. (When we travelled with one kid and two adults, my husband dropped us off at curbside before parking and then went to get the rental car on the other end while I sat inside the airport and waited for the call to say he was coming to get us.)

We never gate-checked the car seat. Not sure I'd go through the trouble for that. I've had a gate-checked stroller broken en-route. I used our car seats on the airplane.

ETA again: I always LOVED having my Britax on the other end because they install so nicely in such a wide variety of cars. So worth the transportation from that standpoint.

If one of your kids sits FFing, you could get an Evenflo Maestro for him. That also works very nicely on the airplane and is slightly lighter. (I've travelled with this as well)

[mikala]

Hmm. I think I would add a fourth option. I would buy a Ride Safer travel vest for the 4 year old. They are $ but ridiculously light and easy to pack and you have plenty of car seat years ahead of you to use it.

I would put the travel vest in a rolling carryon and then strap the 2 year olds seat onto it with a strap or bungee, think I've seen other threads on those options and cheap ways to rig something up. I'd bring whichever seat was lightest for the two year old.

I've used a cloth laundry bag or clear plastic bag on gate checked carseats.

Re: renting seats, no way. Rental car agencies aren't generally known for their up to date carseats and you wouldn't know the accident history.

Re: stroller, you know your kids best. My kids are similar ages and we still travel with a stroller because the toddler wants to walk most of the time but when he's done he is a heavy beast to carry.

[joules]

I didn't even think about having DH dropping us off first. And I forgot about curbside checkin. Thanks!

DH is coming with us. We will be there for almost a week.

I don't think we'll need a stroller. We are not planning on going anywhere that requires a lot of walking...my mom wouldn't be able to handle it. However, we will meet with DH's bff who has a 4 yo too. Depending on the plans, we might even stay overnight...so I'm not sure what we would do and if it would require a stroller. I just can't imagine bringing 2 car seats AND a stroller. We have an umbrella stroller and an uppababy vista. If bringing the umbrella stroller makes the whole car seat situation easier, I'm open to bringing it. The vista is out of the question, right?

How hard would it be to install 2 car seats on the plane? Would they even fit, they are so wide and huge? And that means we would have to carry them through the narrow aisles. Am I being a wuss? haha

[mmsmom]

First, check in curbside! Personally, I would check the car seats curbside too if you are not using on plane. I have done it many times and only had a problem once & the loaner seats were just fine. Then you wait in airport with DC while DH goes to park & takes shuttle back. On the arrival end I would send DH to get rental , get luggage cart for all your stuff & meet DH on the curb. If you still want to gate check seats then I would still check in curbside then bring stroller to bungee car seats to to get to gate.

[joules]

I forgot to mention, this is all very helpful!! Thanks and keep the suggestions coming!

[arivecchi]

I don't like to fly with our good seats or deal with installations at the airport back home. I buy cheap travel seats instead that I can use as back-ups at home. Our travel seats used to be a Scenera and a Maestro. Now we have back-up boosters. I'd check one seat and bring the seat for the younger one on the plane.

[nfowife]

I don't know what your carseat/stroller combo is but I have a maclaren volo (not sure those are made anymore LOL) and my old britax fit right in the seat. I used a bungee cord to secure it around the back. The scenara did this as well. It was quite handy- kid sitting in seat sitting in stroller was easy to get through the airport (easy enough, anyway) and then I had a usable stroller at my destination if needed.

I would NOT rent. Buy travel seats for at least one kid (scenara is great and super lightweight! Super easy install FF). For your 4 year old I would put the carseat in a travel bag and check it.

[rin]

Our kids are almost the exact same ages as yours, and we fly pretty often with them (average 5-6x/year), either just me or me & DH. My thoughts are:

(a) If you think you will be flying even 1x/year in the future, I'd strongly consider getting a Safe Rider vest for your older DC. It can be used for trips over the coming years, and it's awesome to travel with. If you do this, you'll only have one carseat to manage in the airport.

(b) I would definitely bring an umbrella stroller just for navigating the airport. Even if neither child rides in it, it can be a luggage cart. It's also very, very good for containing kids who might try to run off in a busy, congested airport. (That said, try to tire your kids out by having them walk as much as possible!) I would not bring a Vista; many airlines have a 20-lb limit on strollers. We do not bother with stroller bags, but we fly with an ancient Maclaren Volo which is pretty beat up. We use it exclusively for airports.

(c) If you want to gate check a carseat, or use it on the plane, I would bungee the Roundabout into the umbrella stroller (set it in the seat, run the bungee through the FF belt path, then attach around the back). You can pile backpacks, etc on top, then use this to schlepp everything through the airport. If you are going to check a carseat (either curbside, front desk, or gate) I would get a heavy-duty CLEAR garbage bag to prevent it from getting oil/grease smears on it. Whoever gives you your luggage tag for the seat can help you put the tag on wherever they prefer. (Opaque garbage bags run the risk of having some baggage handler think it's actually garbage.)

(d) As far as installing carseats on the plane, I'd think about whether your kids will do better strapped into their seats for however many hours you'll be in transit. I've done both, and I now do not bring carseats on the plane, since my kids do better with more room to move around in their seats. Some kids do better strapped into their seats. Statistically speaking the safety difference is miniscule (your children are in more danger in the carseats in a car than completely unrestrained on a plane), so I would pick whatever you think is most likely to give you and your children a comfortable ride. If you DO install the carseat on the plane, make sure to get a seatbelt extender, otherwise the carseat can get stuck in the seat (since the loosening mechanism ends up trapped inside the carseat's belt path.) Also, if you decide to install a carseat on the plane, try to have one adult preboard to install the seats and put the overhead luggage in place, then have the second adult board at the last possible minute with the kids. We always try to minimize the amount of time our kids have to be contained in their seats.