Can't bring Frontier 90 on the plane; what would you do?

DH and I are flying in a couple of weeks with our 4 year old twins (DS is 43" tall, DD is 42" tall, both about 41 pounds). We will be driving to the airport and driving at our destination, so they both definitely need car seats. We have a Frontier 90 and a Boulevard 70. But, I know that the Frontier is not FAA-approved. For one child I will definitely use the Boulevard on the plane. Here are some options I'm considering for the other child during the flight:

1. Check the Frontier (I bought a padded car seat bag though I'm still not sure I trust the baggage handlers)

2. Gate-check the Frontier (ditto)

3. Pack a backless booster (hand-me-down from a friend) into our luggage (leave the Frontier at home); logistically this seems easiest and also ensures the safety of the Frontier long-term, but it seems nuts to me to (a) have one child just using the airplane seat belt and (b) have one child just in a booster driving around, given that we only switched from RF to FF a couple of months ago!

4. Temporarily borrow back our old Marathon that I gave to a friend since I can use it on the plane, and lend them our Frontier for the week; a little annoying logistically but feasible

I would prefer not to buy a new seat just for this trip since we are otherwise totally happy with the two seats we have.

What would you do?

Thanks!
Dr F

I would pick 4

I would go with 4 or buy a dedicated travel seat. 4 year olds in backless boosters don't generally get a good fit or sit well. Something like a maestro or sureride would be a low cost seat that should fit them for another year or 2!

How do your kids fit on the Blvd? Do they have enough room to fit on it until booster ready? If not, I'd buy a SureRide, use it for the trip and as a spare until they outgrow the Blvd then switch to it.

I agree with all the others. I'd want a seat on the plane and a seat with a harness that was guaranteed to be there for the ride on the other end for kids that age/size. There's no guarantee the seat wouldn't be lost or damaged even if you gate check in a protected bag, so you need to find a way to have seats on the plane. If that means borrowing back the Marathon, do that. If that means get a SureRide (and that's feasible), do that.

MommyShannon said:

How do your kids fit on the Blvd? Do they have enough room to fit on it until booster ready? If not, I'd buy a SureRide, use it for the trip and as a spare until they outgrow the Blvd then switch to it.

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At this point there's still some room to grow with the Boulevard, not as much as with the Frontier of course but a decent amount -- though not sure what that translates to in years of growth.

Based on everyone's feedback I will borrow back the Marathon this time and then consider buying a SureRide or similar next time we travel.

Thanks very much!