Car seat for air travel

[jgenie]

We're going to be traveling in a few weeks w/ DS (20 months old). He has a Blvd in my car and a Marathon in DH's car. I'm looking for a travel seat we can purchase to be used on the plane. As of now we can borrow a Marathon at our destination, but not sure how much longer before that one expires so may eventually use the travel seat in rental cars at our destination. What should we buy? TIA

P.S. DS is a peanut - 18 lbs at his last weigh in at 18 months.

[nrp]

A lot of people recommend the Scenera as a travel seat - it is cheap ($40-$50) and light. It is a big PITA to install rear-facing, however, IMO. If you get one I would practice several times before being in a position at an airport where you have to install on the fly.

IIWY, I might just bring my Marathon and invest in a Go-Go-Kidz to wheel your DS through the airport. We love ours and I don't know how I'd travel without it. Of course, if you need a stroller at your destination (we usually don't), you could strap the Marathon to the stroller or put kid in the stroller and sling the Marathon on your back. I prefer the ease of the Go-Go-Kidz and feel it was $70 well spent, though.

[GraceH]

Does he still fit in his old infant seat? ...if so, that would be a great travel seat.

[mom2binsd]

I've heard that this is a nice seat, better padding than the Scenera, only about 30.00 more- Safety1st Avenue.

http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_024W163016110001P?vName=Baby&cName=Gear&sName=Car+Seats

[jesseandgrace]

I went ahead and bought the Combi Coccoro last night, I have three big trips in the next six months, so it seems like it is going to be worth it! 11 pounds is perfect, I just want to figure out some straps for it or something.

[GraceH]

I went ahead and bought the Combi Coccoro last night, I have three big trips in the next six months, so it seems like it is going to be worth it! 11 pounds is perfect, I just want to figure out some straps for it or something.

...or you could get the Flash stroller for it (coming out in Oct?) http://carseatblog.com/?p=4245&cpage=1 (3rd video down)

[arivecchi]

I just used a Cosco Scenera to fly to the Caribbean. Awesome travel seat. Bought it at Target for $53 and came with a travel bag. We have a Blvd and it is a nightmare to travel with. The Scenera is so light that we hung it from our Mac Triumph at the airport. I did not find it hard to install on the plane although we installed it FFing as I don't think you need to RF on a plane.

[malu22]

We just got back from europe last week. We took our son's Britax Roundabout attached to gogokidz because we needed a carseat in europe. It fits on some airplane aisle, some smaller planes we had to pick up the carseat with him on it and attached it to the airplane seat (We purchased a seat for him). He is 20 lbs and 30 inches long. On some places that have smoother street we used the carseat/gogokidz as a stroller. He is still on rear facing so we dont have to remove the gogokidz when we lift him into the car. It made our travel really easy and our son comfortable. We dont have to wake him up when he is sleeping . If you dont want to buy a seat for your child, gate check your carseat. It doesnt fit on the xray machine so I always asked for a hand check and it was never a problem. When you get off the plane you can use your carseat/gogokidz between transfer. We had a bit of problem though with Austrian airlines. Because they have a list of carseat that conforms to the european aviation standard. The flight attendant showed me the list. I dont remember the other 2 but one of it is maxi cosi. They did not allow me to put my son on the carseat (which i think is a lot safer) during take off and landing. He had to be strapped to me with a seat belt extender ( I could crash him during emergency landings). With american planes we never had any issues. Hope this help.