What seats to fly with?

Unregistered · Dec 11, 2014

I am flying alone with my 2 (DS 4yo, DD 3yo) children soon. DS has a Britax Frontier 90 and DD has a choice of a Britax Marathon (my preferred seat) or Evenflo Symphony 65 (back up seat). I only intend to bring one seat on the plane since DS has the Cares Safety Harness. I have no choice but to bring the Frontier 90 on the trip since it's the only seat he currently fits in. Also, purchasing another seat is prohibitive and we will be renting a car since our destination is several hours from the airport. I'd love to bring both on the plane, but I don't think that I would fit sitting next to them, never mind carrying both onto the plane with all our stuff!

Since I'll have to gate check one seat, which one should I gate check and which one should I bring for DD? I'm tempted to bring the Frontier on the plane since both kids can fit in it (and hopefully keep it from getting destroyed in baggage) and gate check the Symphony since its not our favorite anyway.

Sorry for the long post. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated! Thanks!

ketchupqueen · Dec 12, 2014

I can't really help you make that choice, but make sure you protect your seat well, preferably with a sturdy box and padding as needed. About 2/3 of seats I see that were checked unprotected have damage. Have a backup plan. Any chance you could bring the Frontier and borrow a trusted seat from a friend on the other end? What plane will you be flying on? There is a chance both might be able to be installed and I'd getting them to the gate becomes the only problem, strapping them to a luggage cart ”nested” together might work.

Dillipop · Dec 12, 2014

If you're going to drag both seats through the airport just to gate check one of them, I'd probably just bring both on the plane. You can leave one at the front while taking your kids and the other seat back, then go back for the second seat. Or it's possible someone move will offer to drag a seat onto the plane for you. I have the kids sit in the row behind where we are sitting while I install seats. That way, there is no place for them to disappear- the only exit is behind me at the front of the plane. I don't think you'll have a huge problem getting the seats to fit, as long as you have a row with arm rests that move. You may not have a ton of room for yourself though.