Flying with a convertible car seat

jupiterthecat · April 2013

We're taking a trip next week, and since my company is footing the bill, we were able to get a separate seat for my 19 month-old. We've only ever flown before with her as a lap infant, although a couple of times we lucked out and got a free seat, but those times she was still in an infant seat. Should we bring our convertible seat on board with us and haver her sit on that, or strap her in directly on the seat? It's a cross-country flight with a connection, so lugging the car seat through the airports will be a big pain, and it'd obviously be a lot easier to check the car seat through. Then again, if she isn't strapped into a car seat, I envision her standing up on the seat and trying to move around the whole flight. We have a Britax Roundabout.

We'd rather not spend a lot of money on a car seat dolly, but has anyone ever used this one? It's only $13 and attaches to a rolling suitcase.

https://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Toddler-Seat-Travel-Accessory/dp/B000JHN3AS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366136285&sr=8-2&keywords=car+seat+dolly

Mustardseed2007 · April 2013

We got a seat for our LO and flew with a convertible seat. We did just carry it through the airport, which was a pain. It helped that we used a rolling suit case as a carry on and flipped the carseat over upside down and hooked it onto the suitcase so

mexicolombiana · April 2013

I'm going to disagree and say that you should just check the convertible seat in. get a good bag for it though so it doesn't get all dirty. You can strap the baby in to his/her own seat and just bring plenty of things for them to do on the

happytotmom · April 2013

I would suggest the CARES harness and you can rent one on Ebay to keep the price down. We took our large car seat on an international flight when our son was 13 months old and even with the seat reclined, he wasn't able to recline enough in the car

Snow1010 · April 2013

A couple months ago we flew with our then 19 month old and took our convertible carseat on the plane (Britax Boulevard). BIG MISTAKE!

Of course it was a pain getting through security and carrying through the airport, but the worst part was.

kristennd · April 2013

We've flown several times with our Britax Boulevard, most recently at 20 months. He's been fine. It helps us that he is always mellow in the car, and in fact tends to fall asleep, so that association helped him with the unfamiliar plane environment.<br

JENandJEH · April 2013

I would definitely take her seat onto the plane and not check it with the luggage. I know that sometimes, it's just not feasible to pay for the extra seat however, if her seat is already paid for then definitely take it and use it. At 19 mo

ladybugpjb · April 2013

I don't know how heavy your Britax is, or what kind of straps it has for the LATCH system, but we were able to use the straps to attach it to one of our rolling suitcases. It worked really well. It's worth testing it out before you spend a lot of money

aurora1974 · April 2013

I don't have the same car seat you have so I don't know how that will work. We have the Evenflo Triumph and it's huge. We are flying this Saturday and bought an inexpensive Cosco Senera at Walmart for this trip. It was the only one that I c

jupiterthecat · April 2013

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's all very helpful. I hadn't even thought of how the car seat would be handled if we checked it-- I've seen those luggage handlers tossing bags around. We have a Britax Roundabout, which is the 55 lb limit one. I t

sucredee · April 2013

I'm a little late to this but will give my 2 cents anyway....we flew with the car seat on board for our trip to Europe when DD was 16 months old. Never again. On the way out we ended up being upgraded (except for DD) so she was a lap child anyway. On t

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