which seat to take on the airplane?

[megs4413]

I've got a Britax Boulevard Clicktight and a Britax Marathon. Not sure if there is an advantage of one over the other for the flight. Thoughts? We're renting a car when we get there as well. TIA!

[candaceb]

buy a maestro?
I can't imagine lugging a Britax seat through the airport. Of the two I'd go with the Marathon.

[trcy]

I have a Blvd and no way would I lug that through an airport. I can't imagine a marathon is much lighter, but I don't know. I don't know how much your DC weights but we always use a cosco scenera when we fly.


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[mommybug]

I just went through the dilemma of which carseat to bring on the plane for DS3 who is just shy of 2, and very tall and skinny. His normal seat is a Chicco nextfit and that thing is crazy heavy. I looked at the Scenera but he would be outgrown rfing within a year. I bought a Evenflo SureRide and for the life of me I couldn't get it installed using LATCH. It was a very frustrating experience. Also, there is a huge difference between how cushy the Scenera and the SureRide is compared to the Nextfit or Britax seats. I went out to Target and bought a Marathon the day before our flight. We have a gogo kidz and it really wasn't so bad going through the airport. The only annoying thing is that the seat wouldn't fit in the xray machines so they had to hand scan it. When I was at Target, I looked at the Clicktight Marathon, and it seemed much heavier. When my older two were younger we always traveled with their Marathon or Boulevard using the gogo kidz. For me, it just seemed easier than trying to figure out how to install a seat that I didn't use that often and also it was the seat the kids were used to. Good luck!

[Philly Mom]

I would not do the boulevard. I have done a marathon with gogo and while fine it is heavy. Also difficult to unseat belt on the plane and/or difficult to tighten. I much prefer traveling with the scenera next. So light and easy to take through airport. Easy to install on plane and in car. It is not the most comfy seat but perfect for traveling.


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[Zukini]

I vote Marathon. Unless you need a 3rd seat for another caregiver's vehicle, in which case you might want to consider the Scenera Next. Have never used it, but heard very good things about the ease of install for the Next. FWIW our travel seat is a G4.1 Roundabout so probably similar in size to the Marathon (perhaps not weight) and we adore it for the ease of install (you didn't say if this was international travel in case you definitely will prefer having the built in lock offs offered by the Brutax brand seats vs having to carry a separate locking clip). I've not found a vehicle in numerous trips that I couldn't get a tight, secure belt install in a few minutes with the Britax seat. If rear facing still, the biggest hiccup was needing to roll a towel to adjust recline on very sloping vehicle seats. And with the belt install, there's no crazy fishing for latch hooks in rental car seats etc.

We also have a Boulevard Clicktight as his main seat and yeah, it's a beast. I would stick with the previous models for travel if Britax is your preferred brand.

We transport ours through the airport either on a metal carrying cart (the kind you get at Walmart in the luggage aisle) with a flat bungee cord (Amazon) securing it, or more usually we fit it in the seat of our city mini stroller (it fits there very snugly, flat bungee optional but still useful to have to secure gate check bag etc) and use the stroller to wheelbarrow the car seat, carry-on backpack, through the airport etc. I babywear DS or if we have a layover and he's asleep, I lay him in the stroller seat and hang the car seat by the tethered tether hook (allowed by Britax to use it as a carry strap) off the handles of the stroller. It makes the stroller tippy if you remove the child (ask me how I know, I consistently forget when I'm in airport bathrooms especially and I remove him to change a diaper and the whole thing tips over backwards) but is very stable once child is laying in the seat and you have a hand on the handle with car seat hanging off the back. Build in some extra time (5-10 minutes) for the hand inspection of the car seat at TSA security. It may fit through some X-ray machines but mostly it doesn't and TSA staff usually can eyeball it to see if it will fit without getting stuck in the machine.

[megs4413]

Thanks, everybody. We're flying to Disneyworld. She's almost 2.5 and about 30lbs, but she's VERY tall. I'm not buying another seat. This vacation is expensive enough! LOL

We will take our chances with the marathon!

[HannaAddict]

Entered in wrong post

[sunnyside]

We just flew with the travelmate and our clek seat. I'd take the lighter of your two.