flying with boosters

We are planning to take turboboosters for our twins when we travel to FL this summer. Our twins are 6.5 yo and both have been using booster part-time. On our previous trips, our twins were in harness car seats and we used those on the plane. Traveling with boosters is a whole new experience for us!

I was planning to pack the hb in our luggage and then carry the nbb on the plane with us. However, when I tried putting the hb in our luggage, they take up a ton of space. We were hoping to travel with just 2 suitcases, but that won't work if the boosters take up so much of our luggage space. (This wouldn't be an issue if we could take 1 piece of luggage free per person!)

Any other suggestions about how to travel with the boosters? Should we consider carrying the whole booster on the plane with us? If so, what is the easiest way to do that?

Another thought is to mail the boosters to my inlaws ahead of time. (We have 7 car seats so I can spare a couple of boosters for a week!) Any guess about how much it would cost to send them? UPS or USPS cheaper?

A third thought is to buy new boosters, have them shipped to gparent's house and leave them at gparent's house. We don't travel there often, but the seats could be used by our kids for several years and by other cousins in a few years.

ETA: 4th option - we could take our Radian for DD and use that on the plane. Then we'd only have to pack one hbb in our luggage for DS. (He's 65lbs, 51in tall and only fits in the Regent so we're definitely doing a booster for him on this trip.)

Melanie

I like the idea of having a cheap set of boosters at their house. Either they could pick them up at the store, or you could have them shipped from somewhere with free shipping. I bet this would be no more expensive than checking extra luggage. Just make sure whoever picks you up brings the boosters.

Really, with twins there is enough to deal with at the airport, that I try everything to simplify (but of course, yours are quite a bit older than mine).

I would ship booster to your destination as well

Or option four, use them backless and just carry those parts on board. That's what I'd do.

Wendy

I put them back in the original box & check them in :shrug-shoulders:

wendytthomas said:

Or option four, use them backless and just carry those parts on board. That's what I'd do.

Wendy

Click to expand...

I'm not comfortable with our twins using backless boosters at this time. We'll be in FL for three weeks and I know my kids will be sleeping in the car. We'll have some late nights and 2 to 3hr daytime drives when I know they'll sleep.

I was already a little concerned about using hbb when I saw that my DS had issues staying in position sleeping in his booster this past week. But he is already 65+ lbs, 51in tall, and only fits in the Regent, which we are not taking.

Melanie

cat mommy said:

I like the idea of having a cheap set of boosters at their house. Either they could pick them up at the store, or you could have them shipped from somewhere with free shipping. I bet this would be no more expensive than checking extra luggage. Just make sure whoever picks you up brings the boosters.

Really, with twins there is enough to deal with at the airport, that I try everything to simplify (but of course, yours are quite a bit older than mine).

Click to expand...

We flew when the twins were 18months, 2 1/2 yo, and 3 1/2 yo. I figured that we've done the hard traveling with twins and 2 car seats.

So are the flights easier at 2 1/2 than at 18 months? Cause I am always EXHAUSTED by the end!

cat mommy said:

So are the flights easier at 2 1/2 than at 18 months? Cause I am always EXHAUSTED by the end!

Click to expand...

Maybe slightly easier at 2 1/2 - or my memory might be fading. I think my twins were more willing to walk on their own at 2.5yo. They only started walking at 14 and 15 months so they wanted to be carried more when we traveled at 18 months.

At 18 months, we flew from CA to TX. At 2.5yo it was CA to FL - so way across the country. At 3.5yo it was from Reno to Chicago. Definitely the easiest one, because we had a direct flight.

I think traveling with little ones has to be exhausting any way you go. I remember having sore arms the day after our flight and I realized I spend a lot of my travel day carrying a kid or a car seat through the airports.

Melanie