Traveling w/Cosco Scenera in Airport

Hi everyone - I am planning on buying the Scenera as our traveling carseat for our almost 1 year old! I have read through these boards that the Scenera is a great seat to travel with because it is so light weight...my question is how do you lug it through the airport? gogokidz isn't compatible with the Scenera, do you just carry it under your arm, are their included straps to easily carry through the airport? Any tips traveling with this car seat?

Thanks for any help/insight you can provide!

You can get a cheap luggage cart and a bungee cord, or if you have a rolling suitcase you can get a Traveling Toddler and attach it to the suitcase.

Wendy

Ditto that. I see cheap folding luggage carts at garage sales and thrift stores all the time for $2 or $3. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Toddler-Seat-Travel-Accessory/dp/B000JHN3AS"]Here's a link to show you the traveling toddler.[/ame]

I haven't travelled with a Scenera, but I've travelled with a Roundabout and a Keyfit 30 (both with umbrella strollers, so I couldn't put the Keyfit into a stroller), but I brought a stroller for the carseat and wore the baby on my back.

Some parents are able to wedge their car seats into their strollers. Obviously it depends on the design of both the car seat and the stroller. You may want to secure it with a bungee. The child can often still fit inside.

There are also gizmos that let you wear the car seat on your back. You could swing it between a baby carrier and switching the car seat between the stroller and your back. It's always a good idea to have a Plan B.

If you have another adult coming with you (i.e. the dad), then obviously one gets the stroller and the other can pull the car seat (or wear on his back, if he prefers).

Some people attach car seats to rolly suitcases. I'm not thrilled with this idea for a couple of reasons. First of all, rolly bags don't make good carry-on's with kids. You want your kid-related stuff at your feet. A backpack or duffel bag can squish under your seat or are easier to fit in the overhead bins. Also, the handle is not designed to carry that much weight and the mere thought of the handles breaking, in the middle of the airport with the kid and gear in tow give me hebbie-jeebies.

Plus if you're alone, you don't want to push a stroller AND drag the rolly bag behind you.

I used a luggage cart with an extra bungee. I recommend a all-metal cart. My plastic based cart broke quickly. The GogoKidz is basically an overpriced plastic cart.

I really, really recommend taking on board only what you and your child need for the flight. Check the rest. Also, do whatever you need to do to get on board early. Check-in on line or pay for priority boarding (depending on your airline). Those are expenses that are well worth it when your child(ren) are young. Later on, you can be more flexible but when you fly with kids, keep it simple!

I used a folding cart. I like the kind that has a flip out base for wider coverage, it works better with the scenera base, especially if you have a kiddo riding in it.

The one I bought had a webbed strap. I thought I'd prefer a bungee, so I bought one, but it turns out I really like the strap. I do prefer the bungies with the heavy plastic hooks.

At that age, when traveling alone, I put my kids in the seats, which were attached to Walmart luggage carts (the Sceneras fit well on these carts, but not well on all luggage carts). So I pulled them like a stroller.

With one kid, you could also easily carry the seat and have the kid in a soft carrier in front. Use a backpack for your carry on items. Later, the kid can then walk. If you have two adults, one can easily carry the seat and the backpack, while the other adult takes the kid.

When travelling with my stroller, I check that with my luggage, so it is one less thing to haul through security. And the Scenera really is light enough to carry easily.

I use the Traveling Toddler, since I like to keep my luggage with me. Laine goes into my carry on, a Deuter Kanga Kid. No stroller, no separate carry on. Two pieces plus her carseat. Roller bag goes in the overhead, backpack goes under, Laine goes in her seat. Easy peasy, I can easily do it myself (even lifting my own suitcase in, and I'm only 5'1", though if I'm alone very often someone has helped me faster than I can do it myself), and everything is with us.

Or Laine rides on Nathan's suitcase, if he's with us.

I don't worry about the Traveling Toddler and carseat putting weight on the handle. At least not for most seats. The Scenera weighs nine pounds. The Coccoro I travel with is 11. I can easily put that much stuff in my luggage, and the carseat doesn't go on the handle.

Piper used to sit on top of our suitcase, next to the handle, and around 40-45 pounds the handle would start to bow, and we had to have her stop. We have Tumi suitcases, I don't know if it's different for all, but we found that that much weight put right at the handle started to concern us. Until then, nope. Course back then I carried her Radian on my back and her on my suitcase. Now with Laine it's the other way around.

Wendy

I hook the tether strap to the seat (in the storage position) and just hang the seat off the handle of my stroller when my kid is sitting in the stroller. If DS is walking or being carried, I put the seat in the stroller.

It's light enough you can just carry it in one hand! But, usually I put it upside down over our stroller handles, with the back towards me, and push the stroller via the scenera.

I attach my seat to the underside of my stroller handle with a bungee. I put the seat facing the stroller with the head down towards my basket. then I attach 2 bungee cords. one through the seat belt/latch slot and one around the underside of the head to keep it attached.
in this thread at the bottom, i showed a picture of how it looked:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=89277