Flying with 5 kids, 4 in car seats?

We are flying to Orlando from Ohio in May. We have 5 kids flying with us, 11, 9, 7, 7 and 3.

9yo and 7yo ride in backless boosters daily.
7yo rides in a Frontier daily but will use a backless booster on the trip.
3yo rides in a Frontier daily and has Nautilus and Marathons for back up seats.


So we will have 3 backless boosters we need to take with us. We are checking no baggage so can we carry them through and gate check them in a bag? I would never check harnessed seats but we are taking the $12 Harmonys and they are so cheap we will buy new if anything happens.

What do I take for DS? We used a Marathon last trip and it was just huge. I would love a Radian but I am cheap and don't wan't to spend more than $100 on it, I had one and hated it. I don't like the Scenera at all and ds will outgrow it soon. He will ride in it on the plane.

I thought about getting a cheap gate check bag for my BJ CM and stuffing the boosters in with it to Gate Check. Will this work?

Thanks!

Look at the Evenflo Maestro or Securekids for your 3yo (the Sedurekids has a higher weight limit and will work better as a booster if you want that option in the future).

I would carry on the boosters, just stick them under the seat in front when on the plane, you could probably still fit a small backpack on top of them if needed for access to stuff to do on the plane. Since you'll be carrying them all the way through anyway might as well know they're safe on the plane.

I would also look at the bubble bum for you 3 oldest. They are inflatable boosters so great for travel!! Good luck!! I also travel with 5 kiddos and it's not always easy but we manage

If you are willing to spend ~$100, then I might go with 3 bubble bums rather than buying a new marathon. I'd rather bring one seat (i.e. marathon & 3 bubble bums, you won't even notice the bubble bums) than 4, even if 3 of them are small boosters. I don't think any of the smaller harnessed seats is really enough smaller than a marathon (especially if you're ruling out the smallest seats, scenera and the like) to justify buying one of them.

For the older kids bring the seats they have already, store them in the overhead bin.

For the 3 yo, a sureride or secure kid
The sureride is really light so I'd prefer that! http://www.evenflo.com/product.aspx?id=426&pfid=6614

Another thing to think about, different airlines have different rules on what you can gate-check or bring on board when you're traveling with kids. Since you're not planning to check any luggage, I'm guessing that you will have a fair amount to bring with you on the plane. So knowing the limits for whatever airline you're traveling with might be really important so that you don't go over and get charged extra. For example, with JetBlue, I think that you can take a car seat (in this case booster) on board for each person as a "special item," along with the "carry on" (which needs to fit in the overhead bin) and a "personal item" (which needs to fit under the seat in front of you). In addition, JetBlue will gate-check strollers and car seats with no restrictions.

In comparison, on some airlines, bringing a booster on board as a carry-on might count as one of the passenger's allotment of 2, and they might also have restrictions on the number and size of things that you could gate-check. (Double-check that your stroller is okay to gate-check, as some airlines only gate-check strollers under a certain size/weight.)

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