Frontier 85 or Maestro on Plane?

I will be flying with a 4yr old (41" and 41 lbs) and 2 yr old (37" and 35 lbs) soon. They currently ride in a Frontier 85 at home. I am considering purchasing a Maestro for each of them for the plane ride and the rental car when we get to our destination.

Has anyone taken a Frontier 85 on the plane? Does the tray table go all the way down? I have read that the tray goes down all the way with the Radian and, in pictures) the seat height looks the same on the Frontier and Radian. And would my 4 yr old have any room to move in the seat?

And same questions about the Maestro. I am willing to purchase the Maestros for them if it means they will be able to have the tray table go down.

Thank you!

Are you traveling alone or with someone else? I know the frontiers are big and bulky. I personally HATE moving my frontier in different vehicles. It always a guess on where it will play nice with the vehicle. I am guessing a maestro would be lighter to carry when keeping up kids.

Hopefully this will help bum it up for someone who has a better idea.

I am a total wimp when it comes to hauling stuff through the airport and I say buy the Maestros and travel with those. I am easily able to pick up a Maestro with one hand, but the FR 85 is much heavier at around 25 lbs. Every lb. counts when you have other stuff to drag with you, even if you have a luggage cart (it all has to come off at security, after all). I don't know if you have spare seats, but they'd make good spare seats too.

I would get a maestro for the older and see if the 2yo fits in a scenera. If so get that. It's cheaper.

I would not lug huge heavy seats through the airport if I could avoid it!

I would get 2 maestros. They will last for a long time as back-up and travel seat. The younger one might still fit the scerena. The scerena is a bit cheaper, but you won't be rf and it won't last as long as a back-up/travel seat.

I agree with the others to get 2 Maestros for your kids as travel seats. I have a Frontier for my son and decided to get a Maestro for him as a back-up/travel seat. I'm glad I did because the Frontier is a pain to install (with LBP) in my van, and who knows how it would install in my parent's or sister's cars when I travel this summer. The Maestro installs easily (with the seat belt- for some reason, I can't get a good install with LATCH with this seat) in most vehicles that I've tried it in and is much lighter than the Frontier. If you would be lugging 2 seats through the airport by yourself, definitely get Maestros.
Your 4 year old should still have room to move around/grow. I had a 5 1/2 year old, 47 lbs boy use my son's Frontier recently and he still had room to grow. A 4 1/2 year old, 39 lbs , ~ 41-42 inch girl used it last week and she had plenty of room too.
Another think that I noticed about it that would be a plus when flying is that the seat is shallower than the Frontier. My son is about 40 inches tall and 36 lbs, so close to your older son's size, and when he sits in the Frontier, his legs aren't quite long enough to bend all the way over the edge, making it easy for him to kick the seat in front of him. Since your younger child is smaller than my son, that may be a problem for him too. This could be tough on a plane since the seats are close together. The Maestro will allow him to bend his legs over the edge and give him more leg room. Hopefully, he'll be able to use the tray table too.

Thanks everyone! I purchased two Maestros today. Could already tell they were much easier to car around. My only concern is that the tray table will not be able to go down. Does anyone have experience with one on a plane? I have read the Radian allows the tray to go all the way down and the seat of Maestro doesn't look too much higher than the Radian so I am really hoping!

Perhaps a helpful person from this thread knows? I have created more confusion for myself in noticing that the Generations 65 arm rests go up. I also found some posts saying the tray table on the Maestro does not go down all the way- still can use it for some things, but not all since it is slightly tilted because of the arm rests. Maybe I am overthinking this, but its my first time on a plane with a testy 2 yr old and I'm nervous! Thread below has my questions. Thanks!

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=1710022#post1710022

murphydog77 said:

I am a total wimp when it comes to hauling stuff through the airport and I say buy the Maestros and travel with those. I am easily able to pick up a Maestro with one hand, but the FR 85 is much heavier at around 25 lbs. Every lb. counts when you have other stuff to drag with you, even if you have a luggage cart (it all has to come off at security, after all). I don't know if you have spare seats, but they'd make good spare seats too.

Click to expand...

Holy cow is the FR85 really 25lbs? It seems so much lighter to me, esp compared to my marathon or the Nautilus