Another Gogo Kidz question -- airplane install? AKA Roundabout install?

[heather13]

Anyone who has used this on the plane, how easy is it to install? Or is it basically the same as just installing a car seat (per the FAQ above)? We'd be using the Roundabout.

I'd like to be able to remove it from the airplane seat without disturbing a sleeping DD if possible. She's now 16 mos but I can FF her if it would be less disturbing on a long flight.

Thanks!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

we found that it sometimes got in the way of installing on a plane. It depends on how wide the plane seats are and whether you can tuck the wheels in between the seats. We also found that it made the car seat sit more forward and there was less leg room (that won't matter for a baby or toddler but for our 3.5 year old it was a problem)

The good thing is that the Gogo Kidz is easy to take off and on. We were able to put it back on the carseat while my daughter was still asleep. We could only wheel it up the aisle on the biggest planes though, so we still had to carry the carseat out most of the time.

To install it on the carseat, you just have to tighten two big screw things. It made travel so easy. It's well worth the money!

[heather13]

So is it FF only? Because RF it sounds like I can just put the airplane seat belt over the top of the fabric (but that must be with DD out of the seat?), which I guess would mean the Gogo Kidz wheels wouldn't be a factor. But then to unfasten I'll probably have to wake her.

The description of how to install Britax on a plane FF seems really complicated which doesn't deter me unless the Gogo Kidz would interfere and make it more complicated. I'm having trouble visually seeing how it would impact installation.

The two flights we have scheduled are large planes so I'm pretty confident it will fit down the aisles. The seat belt is what really concerns me since we'll be landing once right around nap time and again very early morning.

[mariza]

It installs the same way you would do a car installation with a lap belt. I find it easier to do RF than FF, but that's becasue I have really big man-hands that can't easily fit through the back to pass the seatbelt through. If anyone complains about not being able to recline tell them the alternative is that your DD will spend the entire flight kicking the seat in front of her (at least my DD does!)
I've installed it RF without removing DD. I've actually switched it from FF to RF 10,000ft in the air becasue DD was kicking the seat inf ront of her and having a screaming fit. She settled as soon as I turned her around (this will only work if your DC's shoulders are level with the the harness slots though, you don't want to mess with that in the middle of a flight!)
The way it impacts installation on the flight is that you cannot recline the seat with the GoGo Kidz attached. HTH!

Mariza
Mommy to my "Thing 1" DD 1/05
and "Thing 2" DS 9/06

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I've only used the Gogo Kidz forward facing, but it should be even less interfering with rear facing.

You may be able to unbuckle the seatbelt with the baby still in the seat. One thing that may make it easier is to ask for a seatbelt extender as you board the plane (ask the first flight attendant you see). That way you can get the buckle off to the side of the seat rather than under your baby and it may be easier to get it undone without taking baby out. You have to get it behind the crotch strap though.

[jersey_girl]

I flew on an overnight flight from the west coast with my son in his Roundabout with the Gogo Kidz attached. He fell asleep in his carseat when we were in the airport waiting for the flight to board, and I rolled him on the plane and down the aisle, lifted him onto the seat, and installed him rear-facing. He didn't wake up at all. When we arrived on the east coast, I unbuckled the seat belt, picked the seat up and put it down in the aisle, and rolled him off the plane- again without him waking up. I believe he was about 8 months old at the time.

If you put your daughter rear-facing, you can definitely keep the Gogo Kidz on the carseat. I put my son forward-facing on one flight (b/c I was afraid the flight attendants would give me a hard time if he was rear-facing), and I took the wheels off just b/c I wasn't sure how the installation would work keeping them on. But it was such a pain to have him facing forward (he was kicking the seat in front of him and throwing his toys on the floor) that on all our flights since I've put him rear-facing and the flight attendants haven't said anything (we last flew when he was 16 months old).

[heather13]

Thanks everyone! That's enormously helpful. It sounds like even though it can't recline with the GoGo Kidz attached (I didn't realize that) she'll still probably fall asleep in it since she's really used to sleeping in her carseat. I feel much better about my purchase now.

Karen - I've printed out your carseat installation instructions for the plane (from the top of the page). Thanks for making them so easy to follow!

Heather