WWYD? airline travel w/ 3 DCs and carseats?

[newbiemom]

Hello all,
here's the scenario: We'll be traveling with 3 under the age of 4 soon by plane.
First, we aren't sure which carseats to bring - our marathon & roundabout, or our 2 radians. The Britaxes will be so much easier to install in the car we'll be renting. However, I think the radians will be much easier to tote around (and we do not have the money to buy any of those carseat carrying accessories). Also, could I even fit the britaxes side by side since they're so wide? ( I want them next to each other so they can both watch the portable dvd player )The infant stays in the snugride.
Second, should we even bother bringing them on board the plane or just check them in as luggage? I'm worried about the carseats getting lost or damaged, though.
We do have a layover, so that is another reason why we want to keep our carryons to a minimum to to make whatever we carryon easy to carry.
Also, we're hoping not to have to bring the snap n go for the snugride with us, since we already will have a P&T doubles stroller that we'll be gate checking. is this realistic? I was thinking of wearing the baby, and putting the snugride on a luggage cart with our other carryons until we get to the gate.

any suggestions?
thanks!

[mom2binsd]

Can the oldest sit in a seat for the plane and you could gate check or carefully pack and check as baggage his/her seat....I'm not even sure if you did put the two oldest side by side if they'd fit...and how easily they'll both be able to watch the DVD player...there isn't much room in their laps...I guess the Radians are the better option as the tray table can be used with them...also what configuration on the plane are your seats...the carseats will take up the window seat and I'm not sure where else they'll require the seats but they can't block the row....

Has anyone ever seen where the airlines will help schlep you from gate to gate (like Jon&Kate got help on one episode)...I would think with 3 kids, 3 car seats, and a stroller you're going to need some help...hopefully someone else has done this and has some great ideas...

Sounds like an adventure..oh and I just heard one airline is no longer going to serve snacks..not sure if that means drinks or just the bag of 3 little pretzels! Airline travel isn't so easy anymore huh!

[Neatfreak]

I'm pretty sure that two FFing Marathons would not fit side-by-side in economy class, no matter what commercial aircraft.

[gatorsmom]

Hmm, we got back 10 days ago from a trip to Florida with a 4yo, 2yo, and 6mo twins. So, yeah, I got some advice.

I've hated dragging our Marathons around in the airport. So this last time, we checked our 2yo's Marathon at the Curbside check in with our other checked luggage. And we would have checked our 4yo's Marathon but we didn't bring it with us for travel. Instead we bought a SafeRider Vest which essentially is a vest which positions the seatbelt correctly across his body. If your oldest child is over 35lbs, I'd seriously consider bringing that instead of dragging another carseat with you. Otherwise, I'd curbside check the Marathon too.

I should tell you that to protect the Marathon, we bought a neon colored laundry bag from Walgreens and wrote our telephone numbers in huge numbers all over it. We've done this before and haven't had any damage to the seats.

I know that many people don't feel comfortable traveling without putting their children in carseats in the plane, but I just refused to drag those enormous carseats with us. It saved us a ton of stress.

If I were you, I'd walk through the airport with the baby in the snap and go (SNG). If the baby has his/her own plane seat, then obviously you have a safe place to set him/her. You will have to take the baby out of the carseat and the carseat out of the SNG at security, but at least you can set the baby down right away while you reassemble the rest of your stuff at security.

When you get get to the terminal, ask the flight attendant if you could preboard. And then ask for tags for the strollers and other stuff you want to gatecheck. If the baby doesn't have his/her own seat, I'd bring an infant wrap/carrier to wear the baby on the plane. I'd get the baby all set up in wrap/carrier while you are waiting to board. Don't wait to do this before stepping on the plane! That way, you can put the baby carseat in a laundry bag ahead of time. The only thing you want to do at the gate is fold your stroller.

If I were you, I'd make the other children ride in another stroller just to keep them safe and contained. Another reason for this is that you can gate check that stroller as well which is always safer than other checked luggage. When we traveled, we had our 4 and 2yos in an MBUD and our twins in their carseats in a double SNG. At the terminal, we put the babies in Baby Bjorns and put their SafeSeats in laundry bags which we set back in the SNG and wheeled onto the runway. Just before boarding we gate checked the 2 Safeseats, folded the MBUD and the SNG and left them at the gate before boarding. It worked really well.

The only carry ons we brought onto the plane were 2 backpacks for me and DH full of activities and supplies for the kids. For the plane, I packed little pillboxes full of jelly bellies, m&ms and Gerber fruitsnacks. This kept them happy while they waited for their DVD player to start. Pretty much the DVD player is the life saver. For the babies I brought powdered formula. When the older 2 wanted juice, I had brought empty sippy cups and little packets of crystal lite which I mixed with a water bottle I bought. It worked well for them. So, the only things we dragged through the airport were our 2 backpacks and each of us pushed a stroller with 2 kids/babies. At the terminal, we transfered the babies 2 the Bjorns while we waited to preboard. It all went pretty smoothly.

I'm nak but hope this made some sense. Just give yourself LOTS OF EXTRA TIME in the airport and you should be fine.

hth

[carolines mommy]

2 Marathons absolutely DO fit next to each other in economy class on all major airlines I've flown (American, United, Delta, etc). They fit both RF and/or FF no problem. I travel with my girls alone most of the time and have the gogo kidz for their Marathons which does make it super easy to get around the airport if you should have the opportunity to buy or borrow them. I've flown once when I didn't put DD in a seat. We flew together (just the 2 of us) and it was a nightmare getting her to sit still, keep the seatbelt on, etc so I vowed never again to fly without a seat for her. As long as she fits in it, it comes with us. When I fly with both, I put the DVD player on my tray so they can't touch/kick it and it works out fine. DVDs, snacks and crayons are my big sanity savers on flights. I do try to limit drinks because it is a huge hassle to take one or both to the nasty airplane bathrooms.

[Neatfreak]

That's kind of cool. I thought that a MA took up one full seat plus a wee fraction of the next on a 737 or A320, but I realize that the whole "armrest" up thing may be just because the seat sits high.