Originally Posted by swise

Your baby will likely outgrow that seat by the time they are 1. Ours outgrew our car seat with the same height/weight limits by 6 months old (but we had giant babies). You can take a look at your child's line on a growth chart to get an idea where they will be by age 1. It's the height limit that they outgrow, not the weight limit.

The Cosco Scenera is what many of us prefer for air travel. It's super lightweight. Not fancy. But it does the trick. It might get a bit uncomfy for that long of a flight. Other easy air travel seats are the Combi Coccoro, the Evenflo Titan 65... I'm sure there are others, but I've gradually moved out of this scene as my boys are getting older. The key is to get a lightweight seat, so that you can easily lift it up above the seats as you walk down the aisle and so that it's easy to schlep through the airport and everywhere else.

Other tips:
Try and get a bulkhead seat, so that you can rear-face the car seat without obstructing the recline of the seat in front of you. Rear-facing car seats recline a bit more, so your baby will be more comfortable for sleeping.

Bring a stroller and attach hooks to the handlebar, so that you can easily hang the car seat off of it -- or any other luggage you might have. Gate-check the stroller.

Backpacks. It keeps your hands free for other things. If you have a shoulder strap style diaper bag, leave it at home and use a backpack. I like to have one with side pockets for water bottles.

Have a wonderful trip!