First, we would agree with Often1 about checking with the airlines regarding rules for types of aircraft seats and compatible/allowable car seats. That will likely provide a clearer picture of possible options.

Second, as you’re relocating from the U.S. to Europe, we would recommend focusing on whatever will make the flights easiest, as you have the ability/capacity to ship the items you choose not to fly with the other items you’ll be shipping separately.

Also, and forgive us if we’re telling you that which you already know, but due to relocating, any car seat you choose to take – on the flight or shipped separately – will be illegal to use once you arrive in Europe (unless it is approved to both U.S. and EU standards).

This said, we would always recommend traveling with a car seat installed on the airplane for a child whenever possible. Our daughter traveled in her car seat on the plane until she was 13 years old (she’s small for her age), and there were far more benefits in terms of safety and practicality than disadvantages. Whichever car seat you select, it may be worth looking up the “footprint” of the car seats you’re looking into and cross-referencing those dimensions with those of the aircraft seats you’ve booked. This will let you know if the car seat can be installed in the aircraft seats (and if you’ll need to look for a car seat with a smaller “footprint”). We can’t say for sure, but it’s reasonably likely the seat will fit. We had a Britax Frontier for our daughter which was very large and heavy, but we rarely had any issues installing it on any aircraft seats, so most smaller car seats will likely fit (though it’s always worth checking!).

Regarding a stroller, we used one for our daughter for just over ten years and always found it invaluable when getting through airports. It can be easy to default to a “lots-of-items-to-carry” mindset, but once we figured out to stick to certain rules the stroller became a big advantage.

We always made sure she was in it (the only exception being security and boarding) and while one of us pushed her, the other carried her car seat. Doing so meant if we had to talk to airline/airport staff, figure out what direction to go, get stuff from our bags, etc., we could focus on that knowing she was safely buckled in and comfortable. Additionally, we always made sure she had a toy (and when she was older a book) and when we had to find somewhere to sit, the stroller acted as an extra seat so we only needed to find space for the two of us. Equally, having the stroller with us for as long as possible reduced the chance it might get damaged or lost. We simply gate checked it (in a bag), picked it up immediately after leaving the plane, and she would stay in it while we went through the destination airport. Lastly, the basket underneath the stroller seat was ideal for carrying smaller bags or other things.

Obviously every kid is different, and you know your kid better than anyone else so will have a good idea of what will likely work and what won’t (we were lucky that our daughter always traveled well and preferred being in her car seat when flying - and by the time she was 9 years old she was buckling herself in the stroller and reading her book before we’d left the jet bridge!).

Lastly, as with all travel-with-kids related things, just be sure to allow extra time to make the journey.

We hope this helps!