Chicco Nextfit installation on airplane and what about a 4.5 year old

U

Unregistered

Guest
We will be flying Friday with our 18 month old and 4 1/2 year old children southwest Raleigh to Orlando. I have a few questions. My 18 month old has a Chicco Nextfit car seat. Is installation on a plane fairly straighforward? It's a bigger seat I feel like so will it fit. She rides rear facing in the car so should she ride rear facing on the plane??

My 4.5 year old has a diono radian seat, she rides forward facing in a car. She is 41" tall and 39-40 lbs. Should she still ride in her car seat on the airplane or is she big enough to use the lap belt now?

Thank you!
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wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Hi there. Sounds like fun!

I'd install the NextFit rear facing, with the armrest up so it fits side to side. It's fairly straightforward with the seatbelt. Pulling the cover forward will help so you can see what you're doing when buckling and tightening.

For the four year old, she's right at the size where the belt may fit nicely. If you need her carseat while you're in Orlando, though, I'd bring it on board since I wouldn't trust the baggage handlers with my child's lifesaving device. So to protect the seat, I'd put her in it.

Wendy
 

ald2012

New member
The Nextfit installs easily on a plane. Unless it's an overnight flight, I would do rearfacing. It will take up all of the seat pitch and the person in front of you won't be able to recline their seat. You can try and reduce the recline on the Nextfit to make it more upright, but it takes up a lot of room and some passengers can get testy about not being able to recline their seat (IMO, no one in coach should ever recline their seat, but that's just me).

If you install it forward facing, because the seats are so close together, she will probably put her feet on the seat in front and kick/push, which I think is more annoying to the passenger in front than not being able to recline. If there are two of you traveling with your kids, you can offer to seat one parent in front of this child.

Also, forward facing, the seat buckle can be right in the middle of the back of the child, which seems really uncomfortable to me. I ended up putting a burp cloth around the buckle, which probably isn't recommended, but it was a long flight and the guy in front wanted to recline his seat (I gave him an option, warning about the kicking!).

Also, this seat is 25# empty, so have a way to transport it through the airport. We used a Samsonite luggage rack, but there are other alternatives.

For the 4.5 year old, he should be perfectly fine sitting in the seat without the CARES harness or otherwise. You could take your seat onboard if you need it wherever you're headed.
 
Last edited:

lilstar

New member
I just flew with my 2yo and 4yo with nextfit and radian :) i definitely bring the 4yo's seat on board because i dont trust checking it. They get thrown and dropped and stuff. Its a major pain to deal with carseats and kids and luggage but...oh well? We deal, we survive. I installed the nextfit ff even though he rf in the car. I put the recline as upright as it goes. It was my first time doing a ff/seatbelt install, which i realized I should have practiced in the car. The belt path is so small! Lifting up the cover worked, whew. I was pleasantly surprised that he ended up with enough foot room that his feet weren't touching the seat in front. He could reach to kick if he tried, but it ended up not a problem. Plus anytime he started i stopped him and told him not to. Im hoping whoever was in the seat in front of him heard my reminders so they knew i was making the effort! Haha. At least he didn't seem upset by my kids. Flying with 4 kids is INSANE.

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