Seat for flight and car

I traveled with my toddler and his car seat last year on a plane and it was a nightmare. I had a chicco umbrella stroller and a CA seat. The seat didn't fit in the stroller and I had to carry a bunch of stuff and my DS. I currently have a Jetta Sportwagen and have the CA and an onside RF next to each other. They touch and the Onside in the center seat leans a little. I am adopting a relative's infant in WA and have to fly from TX to WA every 4 weeks. I really LOVED the idea of the folding Radian to carry as a backpack and was devastated to see that I couldn't RF it on the plane. My infant will be 2 weeks shy of 12 months for the first flight.

I wanted to replace one of the current seats with the Radian so that the middle child doesn't lean (the seat fits very tightly). My toddler wants to be able to touch his new baby sister, so I want to keep them seated next to each other. I can only justify the Radian if I can use the folding feature for traveling. I can't take another adult with me and I am considering using the CARES Harness for my toddler.

Would you fly your 11 1/2 month old FF? She is just over 20lbs. I have been searching the other threads all day about the radians and flying. I really don't want to take the stroller or a luggage cart. I would prefer to wear the baby and the seat thru the airport and let my toddler walk. Thanks for your input!

No I would not fly with my 11.5 month old forward facing because it is illegal to do so. There is no seat on the market that allows forward facing before 1 year of age. Why can't you install the radian RF on the plane? I think there are others here who have flown with a RF radian. If you use the CARES harness for your toddler, you will still have to worry about a seat when you get to your location.

On some planes the Radian will work RF WITH the angle adjuster. On some it still will not.

I will have a car seat on the other end for my son. I def would try my hardest to install the seat RF with the adjuster. But if I couldn't, then she would have to FF. I guess I could take one of the other seats to RF if needed. Which would be better to RF on the plane? Onside or CA?

onSide, definitely.

How heavy is your son? The lap belt generally doesn't fit until 40 pounds, and the CARES won't make the lap belt fit, or add a crotch strap to prevent submarining.

Wendy

He is less than 40. Thanks for pointing that out. He can still wear 9-12 month shorts I will take the onside for DD to RF. now I just need to be talked into that Radian for my DS to RF in the car and to FF on the plane

Ready?

The Radian is the EASIEST SEAT EVER to install forward facing on a plane. It has a little recline foot forward facing, so if you pop that out, recline the plane's seat, install the Radian, and then pull the plane's seat back up, you have a nice tight install so you can even recline the seat for sleeping.

It's a heavy seat, but I never noticed the weight on my back. The straps were nicely padded and distributed the weight well.

Because it wasn't recognized as a carseat most of the time, the flight attendants didn't bug me to see the FAA sticker. Bonus!

Seriously, a fantastic seat for forward facing travel. And with the eight year harness expiration, you'll use it for a long time for two kids, so it's a great deal.

hehe I should get a commission.

Wendy

I'll yeah that to Wendy & add a little more.

The low profile sides of the RN let kiddo see out the window easily. It also works great with the tray table. If you tire of carrying it on your back you can easily attach it to a rolling carry on suitcase. I used four oversized key rings to attach ours when we flew last month. I attached three rings to the fourth one so that each latch strap & the tether strap attached to a separate ring & they all were attached to the center one. It was great for longer periods of walking & public transportation. We simply used the backpack straps or the ring setup depending upon the situation.

We just flew to Japan with a Radian. DD LOVES it! She hated, hated, hated the Scenera on the plane and cried that her seat wasn't comfy cozy the last two times we flew. We bought the Radian specifically to use on the plane from the US to Japan. We FFed on the plane so she could use the tray table. The only issue we had fron Seattle to Japan was that we were on a 767 with headrests that jutted out, so using the recline didn't work because she was ramming the seat in front of us. We did recline the airplane seat and snugged the Radian back down once we took off and she slept for probably 5 hours total and didn't cry at all (she slept the 2 hours from Salt Lake to Seattle).

This was DD on the way from Salt Lake to Seattle right before we took off. We flew Delta and it was an Airbus. I think I have a pic of her using the tray table to eat dinner on the flight to Japan that I'll post when I get to my computer.

Here's Piper with her tray down and her Radian. She was 2.5 or so in this picture. That was *right* after the Radians came out (33 pounds rear facing, 10/05 DOM). We had the first one the store ever saw, and I had to go an hour away for a store that would order one.



Piper also slept seven hours straight from China to Chicago in hers. She slept better in her forward facing Radian reclined than Laine did in her rear facing Coccoro on the way back from Korea. Course, Piper was older and didn't need to wake to nurse every 90 minutes.

Wendy

Thanks so much for the responses and pictures! I found a 65SL with a DOM of 2/10 for $125. I will be picking it up tomorrow. I hope that is a good price! I am excited to use it!