icedancer

We have a Britax Boulevard CS ($250+, very heavy seat), and decided to get a Cosco Scenera for traveling at the recommendation of folks on FT. It was the best $45 we could have invested. We purchased an award seat for our daughter the first time we used it, but we also used it a ton in taxis and cars at our destination. Even though it's really light (<5lbs), it seems really durable and our 15-month-old took to it well. With two stops in either direction, I would definitely gate-check it (both to reduce the possibility of loss or damage and because you have the option of using any available empty seats).

(The short story on why we bought the Scenera was because we reserved the bulkhead for peak Thanksgiving travel from LAX-PHL and didn't realize ahead of time that the Britax would be too wide to fit in a seat with fixed armrests. In retrospect, I'm extremely glad that we stuck with the bulkhead and bought the narrower Scenera).

Eclipsepearl

ITA with the others. I know it's a pain but if you're two adults and only one child, it should be fine. Connections mean even more chance of your seat being lost and/or damaged en route and if you need it right away to leave the airport, don't risk checking it as baggage.

Plus, having the seat on each leg sort of solidifies your request for another seat for your baby.

Another option, which could work if you know someone at your destination, is to order the Scenera online and have the person picking you up bring it to the airport. Be sure to ask that they bring a towel to roll up as many cars need this for rear-facing.

At the end of your trip, you can either leave the seat behind for a future trip or keep the original packaging which is made to protect the seat in transit. Repack the seat and check it at the counter. This is the safest way to check a car seat (good to remember for those bringing a seat to the parents or pregnant moms who don't need it yet). If it does get lost by the airline, it wont matter because you'll have your Roundabout at home. Plus, any damage will destroy the box first and you haven't made such a big investment in the first place...

The Scenera should work until your child is about 3 years old and unlike a lot of travel-specific products, you can then use it at home as a "back-up" seat for grandparents, babysitters, etc.

I should mention that there are some other small, light car seats now on the market if you are interested in buying another car seat in the future, which will work just as well. Look on some car seat specific websites for more information.

sweet-town

Don't worry, you can carry your car seat till the gate. it is easy.
Check here for more infomation, and other tips to travel with infant.

http://www.familytriptip.com/Flight.php

LAX

Anyone knows whether a Britax car seat can fit in the overhead bins of an B757? I have purchased a separate seat for my little one (now old enough to require a seat of her own), but if she falls asleep onboard, I would rather want her to lay flat across the seats instead of in the car seat on a trancon. TIA.

LAX

GBeckman

I highly doubt it. And seriously, why bother? It's not going to hurt her to sleep in the carseat, not to mention the safety factor. I've *driven* across the country several times with my DS asleep in his carseat for hours at a time. In fact, we used to time our trips so that he would fall asleep shortly after leaving and sleep through the night, up to 8 hours or so.

6rugrats

It's not even that it probably wouldn't fit. If it did, have you been on a flight lately? On mine, the overhead bins have been overflowing. Agree, let them sleep in the seat. Much safer.

LAX

Thanks for the quick replies. I guess I want to see if there are alternatives in just case she prefers NOT to be in the car seat after I bring it onboard (she is usually pretty good with it). Is there a place on the aircraft that would be big enough to accommodate it if needed? Or are we going to be stuck for the duration of the flight?

LAX

Eclipsepearl

Not really. It's a small plane.

Just install it in her seat and she only has to be in it for take-off and landing. Not all my kids liked the car seat so it was there for those two portions of the flight and when they fell asleep. Boy was I glad to be able to get up and go to the bathroom when they were in the seat (I'm usually by myself).

KoreanKing

Does anyone know if the Britax Diplomat car seat fits in an United Economy seat (reg Economy, not Economy+)? If so, do you have to lift the arm rests? Does lifting the arm rest pose a problem with the flight attendants during takeoff/landing?

Thanks!

FlyinHawaiian

According to this website, the base is 19".

http://www.elitecarseats.com/Britax-Diplomat.pro

The economy seats on a 747 and 757 are narrower than the Airbus and 767/777. I think for sure the Diplomat is too wide for a 747 and 757.

Eclipsepearl

Basically, all UA's Y seats are 17" or 18". If your Britax is 19", it shouldn't be a problem installing it.

The extra inch or two can be made up by lifting the armrests and letting a little of the car seat spill on to your seat. You might have trouble with bulkhead seats with fixed armrests though.

The seat has to be placed either in a window seat or in a middle seat in the center section (with aisles on both sides). Either place someone from your party on the other side of the seat or go for the window, which will give you a bit more "wiggle" room to get that seat installed, especially if you don't want to the car seat to bother a "stranger" on the other side.

Many of the Britax's need a seat belt extender to properly install. Be sure to ask for one right away, when you board the plane.

In my 13 years as a Flight Attendant, I never saw a seat off-loaded because it was too big to install. I will admit that I did long-haul international so I wasn't on the smaller aircraft but I saw plenty of Britax's fit on 737's just fine.

MariaSF

The problem with all Britax seats is, even if they fit the aircraft seat, they are too heavy to carry around and they leave very little to no leg room for the child if you are not in the bulkhead.

6rugrats

If you are a 1P, why aren't your seats in E+? Note that the width of the seat is the same in both E and E+.

endrond

I recently flew SFO-ORD-SFO with our 2yo daughter, in the Diplomat.

Outbound we were in a bulkhead row (E+). Returning we were in E- on a 747 (for the previous poster, yes, even 1Ks sometimes wind up in E-).

Obviously we had plenty of room outbound. On the return, I put the seat rear-facing because, although this reduced the recline of the passenger in front, it also reduced my daughter's opportunities to annoy her by kicking the back of the seat. (we told the pax in front, we would rotate the seat if she thought that would be better).

Bottom line: if you're in E+ you'll have plenty of room. E- is tight, though mainly in terms of pitch, not the width of the carseat.

Additional note: to answer your question, yes we lifted the armrests between the middle & window seat. Not sure whether we needed to.

KoreanKing

Thanks for the replies.

I'm in economy because I'm traveling with my wife and son who are both non-elites. My son is 18 months so I'm not really worried about him kicking the seat in front of him.

We just bought a car seat bag/backpack to help carry the seat through the airport and to protect the seat when he travels on our laps. Hopefully this wasn't a waste of money.

We're on the upgrade wait list so hopefully it won't matter but I'm just trying to plan ahead in case we're seated in the rear.