Help! Question about Britax Roundabout G4 install on plane

We flew across country yesterday to visit my sister-in-law and we will be returning next week. When I installed the Britax Roundabout RF, it looked a lot more upright than usual and when my daughter fell asleep her head kept falling down to her chest. The line wasn't parallel to the ground, but it looked okay (that line is in the middle of the 30-45 degree range, right? Kiddo is 16 months, so I figured she could be more upright?)

Anyway, when I went to uninstall it, I found that the seat wasn't in the fully-reclined position! It was in the semi-recline position, which I think is only for FF? But I had read on here that it should fit on a typical plane seat (Delta) and it just barely fit the way I had it, so I thought it must be correct and that it just looked more upright because of the plane seats.

She is under 20 lbs with clothes off, but probably over 20 lbs with clothes on . Should I FF her for the flight back?

I think the next recline position won't make much difference as far as the angle or the amount of front-back space. I expect it will still fit; it might be sort of wedged between the seat it's on and the seat in front.

At 16 months, if you want to FF on the plane, I wouldn't be too concerned about the safety... but personally, if it were me, I'd RF if at all possible. I find it to be much easier to tend to a young toddler on a plane if she is RF.

jjordan said:

I think the next recline position won't make much difference as far as the angle or the amount of front-back space. I expect it will still fit; it might be sort of wedged between the seat it's on and the seat in front.

At 16 months, if you want to FF on the plane, I wouldn't be too concerned about the safety... but personally, if it were me, I'd RF if at all possible. I find it to be much easier to tend to a young toddler on a plane if she is RF.

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Okay. I would prefer to RF too. But if I understand correctly, if I try RF and it doesn't fit, it is is still safer to FF than to RF on the "middle" recline setting?

Nedra said:

Okay. I would prefer to RF too. But if I understand correctly, if I try RF and it doesn't fit, it is is still safer to FF than to RF on the "middle" recline setting?

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Yes. The middle recline is FF only, and to use it RF would be significant misuse IMO. FF a 16 month-old (who, yes, may be a pound or two under the FF minimum) would be slight misuse, if she's not 22 lbs fully clothed, diapered and with a full belly, which she very well could be. I'd FF on the plane without a second thought before I'd install the seat on the middle recline. I know that misuse is misuse but given the two options, *I* would choose the latter. I do suspect that the seat will fit fully reclined though. I'd definitely try that first.

Boarding the flight back. I couldn't even come close to wedging the seat in in the fully-reclined position. Even with reclining the airline seat, we couldn't even get the seat to sit flat on its base -- it was wedged in and tipped toward the airline seat.

:-(

So she's taking her first FF trip. I'm sad, but I'll deal. May look into what seats are better for RF airline travel.

Nedra said:

Boarding the flight back. I couldn't even come close to wedging the seat in in the fully-reclined position. Even with reclining the airline seat, we couldn't even get the seat to sit flat on its base -- it was wedged in and tipped toward the airline seat.

:-(

So she's taking her first FF trip. I'm sad, but I'll deal. May look into what seats are better for RF airline travel.

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Don't feel bad. She's still so safe just being harnessed on the plane. Honestly the recline is one of the reasons I didn't mind FF my under 2yo's on the plane. It was often more reclined FF than I could get it RF. (we had the older marathons, but also an Uptown for one of our travel seats.