Carseat advice needed for plane ride/taxi ride

[WAqt]

I would greatly appreciate advice on how to travel with an infant and a 3 year old. We are planning on taking a plane trip followed by a taxi ride to a hotel next weekend. We are definitely taking our infant carseat; in the past, without baby in tow, we would also take our Marathon for the toddler. However, we're worried about getting completely bogged down with infant carseat, Marathon, stroller, bags, etc.
Would you advise leaving the Marathon at home, and strapping the toddler with a lapbelt on the plane? And how do we handle the taxi ride, then?
Or should we just lump it and take the Marathon too?
Thank you!

[WatchingThemGrow]

We used backpack Carseats bags to carry the seats while we pushed DC in strollers. We used the Cares harness for the toddler on the plane and wore the baby on the plane.

[BayGirl2]

We put the Convertible on a GoGo Kidz, roll the toddler through the airport in that, and check the stroller. For the infant, we backpacked the infant seat to the gate and wore the baby. If we were able to get a seat for the baby we'd bring the infant seat onboard, otherwise we gate checked it.

I really don't trust car rental carseats after seeing Hertz's storage spot in multiple airports. The GoGo Kidz has seriously saved us on trips with the toddler. Now that my toddler is bigger I'd consider using the Cares Harness and gate checking the Convertible, but if I'm bringing the Convertible to the gate anyway, might as well bring it on the plane, so not sure.

[hillview]

How old and how large (height/weight) is your toddler? Is it just the taxi ride you will be in a car for? How do you feel your toddler will listen to you on the plane to stay in her seat with belt on?

For our boys we had car seats ON the plane in the plane seat til age 3. At age 4 they were old enough to listen (usually) to the rules about seatbelts on and stay in your seat. Depending on the age/height/weight of toddler I would either bring the marathon and use it on the plane or take a lighter/smaller seat (scenra) or maybe the safe guard go (not sure if they still make it) or maybe consider the safe rider vest.
/hillary

[WAqt]

Thank you for all the advice so far! A lot of good ideas!

We are traveling with a baby carrier in addition to the infant car seat and stroller (+ we purchased a plane ticket for the infant) so we are all set there.

Our toddler is 3.5 years old, and was 38.5 inches at his 3 yo checkup, and is of average weight. He's probably above the CARES harness height limit (40 inches?) now. I think he can be trusted to stay belted in.

And yes, it's just the cab ride from the airport to the hotel that we will be in a car for. The distance is only 3.5 mi, and it's on city streets, no highway.

[TwinFoxes]

I'd check the 3yo's seat, or get a smaller cheap seat for this trip and check that. I'm sure one of our experts knows of one. :)

[Multimama]

To me checking a seat is like throwing it away since you don't know how much damage it has sustained in transit. So if it were me I would either buy a Ride Safer Travel vest for the 3 year old if he meets the minimums and use the seatbelt on the plane or I would bring a light seat like the Scenera, Safety 1st Avenue, or Maestro (first is cheapest, last is most longevity forward-facing) and strap it to my roll-on with the Traveling Toddler (or similar homemade option). (The latter option is what we do.)

[hillview]

To me checking a seat is like throwing it away since you don't know how much damage it has sustained in transit. So if it were me I would either buy a Ride Safer Travel vest for the 3 year old if he meets the minimums and use the seatbelt on the plane or I would bring a light seat like the Scenera, Safety 1st Avenue, or Maestro (first is cheapest, last is most longevity forward-facing) and strap it to my roll-on with the Traveling Toddler (or similar homemade option). (The latter option is what we do.)
TOTALLY :yeahthat:

I might even see if a neighbor or friend has one to spare.
/hillary

[WAqt]

I just looked the Safe Rider Vest up, and it looks perfect for our needs. We'll no doubt run into this situation again so it's a good long term solution. Just ordered it online.

Thanks again!