2nd/travel car seat indecision!

Hi,
I have a 20 month old 20lb daughter and we fly about 3 times a year. I used to babywear but now that she's so fidgety in my lap I've decided to start bringing her car seat on the plane. I have a Chicco Nextfit that I love but I'm worried about traveling with it. We need to get another seat for my husband's car so I'd like to find one that's more compatible with traveling.

What I'm looking for in the travel seat is:
-Easy installation with Latch AND seat belt
-Easy to adjust harness (a friend told me Gracos need to be uninstalled to loosen/tighten harness which is unacceptable for me since I loosen it every time I put her in)
-No re-thread harness a big plus
- would REALLY like to be able to use tray table when FF
- cushiony. Looks like Sceneras are pretty bare bones in that department

Seats I'm looking at with pros and cons:

-Radians: narrow so I can roll down aisle with luggage cart, fits in all plane seats and can use tray table and has rear tethers but concerned about lack of side impact protection, heavy
-Evenflo Sureride: super light, ERF, can FF to 65 lbs, can't use tray table, takes up a ton of space front-to-back RF so maybe can't RF on plane, not easiest to install on plane
-Britax Marathon: super easy to install, comfy but bulky, heavy, can't use tray table

Am I just wanting too much? Is it better to sacrifice comfort or convenience? I'm just hoping someone has a travel car seat that they love enough to own as a primary seat. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you

Hi! I don't have a travel seat but I did travel with my then 1.5 yr old by plane with a Chicco NextFit and would like to share my experience with you.

I had it on the Go-Go Travelmate Deluxe to wheel through the airport with my daughter in it like a stroller. TSA had me take my daughter out but all they did was a hand/visual check on the seat without having me remove the carseat from the travelmate.

The flight attendants were the sweetest and very accommodating. All I had to do was remove the carseat from the travelmate and they carried the carseat to my airplane seats. They kept my daughter company while I installed it rear-facing and it was super easy. And my daughter was great the whole plane ride since she knows her seat. The travelmate fit conveniently under the seat in front of hers and I locked the wheels to prevent it from sliding. I also had the travelmate diaper pouch attached to it which was very helpful & convenient to store a few pull-ups and 2 playtex sippy straw cups for milk.

My whole traveling experience alone with my daughter was absolutely great thanks to the travelmate deluxe and I recommend it to all traveling families. Hope this helps you.

Here are some pics of the NextFit on the Travelmate Deluxe and the NextFit on the airplane seat. Don't mind the naked NextFit as I was washing the cover from my daughter getting sick on it back then. You would route the Travelmate's straps onto the NextFit much like a vehicle seatbelt but with 2 seatbelts (both RF & FF slots) to make it secure on the Travelmate.
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Thank you so much for your response and for the super helpful photos (your daughter is ADORABLE, btw).
Because of your post I'm thinking I'll try out the NextFit with your same setup and see how it goes.
Thanks again!

In not sure how a radian would fit rf on a plane? We love the scenera next, and use it in our second car and for travel. (I have four radians in my suburban for everyday use. ) Padding has not been an issue. But, based on the pp, I'd just use your next fit. Love the pics!!

mamah said:

In not sure how a radian would fit rf on a plane? We love the scenera next, and use it in our second car and for travel. (I have four radians in my suburban for everyday use. ) Padding has not been an issue. But, based on the pp, I'd just use your next fit. Love the pics!!

Click to expand...

I've heard if you use the angle adjuster then the radian will fit. You must like the radians since you have 4 of them! And it's good to know that the Scenera is comfy enough for your kids.
Thanks!
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Thank you for the compliments!

First off, my daughter's primary seat is a Nextfit also, and I'd LOVE to take it for her travel seat, but it's just so heavy I can't handle that myself.

Her second seat is a Sureride. I like it enough for her second seat in DH's truck. It's cushy enough for the number of times she's in that one compared to the Nextfit. BUT it's also her travel seat, and I HATE it as her travel seat. It's pretty light, so that I like, but it's been a BEAR to install in all the rental cars. I have to FIGHT with it to get it in with a barely acceptable install, then get to my parents and have my dad help me fix it. I have a heck of a time pulling the latch strap to tighten. I'm not sure if it's just me, or if that's a common issue, because I cuss at it everytime I fly with my daughter. I even have a heck of a time getting it OUT of the rentals.

I have heard good things about the Guide 65. I've heard that seat allows use of the tray table ff. I wish I heard that before buying the Sureride, because I may have gone for the Guide 65 right off the bat then. The thing that gets me about the Guide 65 is that the sides are pretty low, so compared to the Nextfit, it has way less side impact protection (that's my opinion, not sure how it would rate in any official tests). I'm just so used to the Nextfit's tall sides, that the Guide seemed skimpy. But considering it's our 2nd seat and travel seat, she's not in it THAT much. I wish I would have gone with the Guide.

Just my 2 cents, for whatever it's worth.

Although, I HAVE installed the Sureride rearfacing on Southwest's 737 before.

I have both a SureRide and a Guide 65 and I've used them both RFing and FFing. I find the SureRide easy to install RF on a plane or in a car (as long as it fits in the car; it's a tall seat and only has one recline line for RF). I find the Guide to be an obnoxious pain to install RF, but I've got it down to a pretty good system. It *is* nice how a FF child can have full use of the tray table on a plane with the Guide. Neither of my kids have complained about the comfort of either seat, with the exception that my very long-legged older boy said he found the SureRide more comfortable than the Guide FF at age 4.5. I think it's often more about shape than padding - like our dining room chairs are perfectly comfortable to sit in for awhile, despite that they're just wood with no padding, because they're well-shaped.

For an upcoming plane trip in August, I'm strongly strongly tempted to get a Scenera NEXT because I've really been wanting to try it out. And when you're just carrying it in the airport, the difference between 7 lbs (NEXT) and 11.3 lbs (Guide) is really noticeable.