Packing the Maestros and Monterey for gate checking

Unregistered · Dec 28, 2015

Hi, our family of 5 (kids aged 5,7 & almost 10) will be traveling from Malaysia to the USA in April next year for a three week trip.
We don't plan on bringing any car seats/boosters as we're going to have a stopover in Tokyo on the way there which kinda complicate things. So, our plan is to order an Evenflo Maestro, a Diono Monterey and a Harmony Youth via Amazon/Walmart and have them shipped to our first hotel (youngest two will be using bubblebum from the airport to hotel).
We're also bringing back both the Maestro and Monterey to Malaysia with us. So far, the plan is to keep the original box of the Monterey and try to fit both the Maestro and the back part of the Monterey into the box and gate check it. The bottom part of the Monterey will be brought to the plane as personal item. Does anyone know if this is possible? Is the Monterey box big enough for us to do so? The seats will be bubble wrapped by us of course.

murphydog77 · Jan 6, 2016

Hello! My guess is that no, they won't fit in the box together. Manufacturers design the boxes to fit their carseats pretty tightly, then angle them in like puzzle pieces. So adding in a different seat is like trying to fit 2 similar puzzle pieces together because they look like they fit together, then smashing them together.

You could try to fit both into a separate box bought at a store like Home Depot or an office store and pad the seats with some clothing (or the bubble wrap), though it depends on weight and size limits of the airline you're flying and the box doesn't guarantee the seats won't be damaged either (nothing does, really).

Good luck and have a fun trip! Long haul flights are nasty (I'm still recovering from mine last weekend), but hopefully yours will be trouble-free!

gigi · Jan 6, 2016

I would skip the Maestro and just use boosters for all the kids. Your youngest is 5, that is old enough for a booster.

Does your car in Malaysia have tether anchors? Or locking seatbelts? I am assuming no, but perhaps you have a car made for the American market? If you have no tether anchor, I would not use the Maestro untethered. To my understanding, there isn't a safety benefit to an untethered harness vs a booster, especially for a bigger kid who will have more head excursion.

I would get the youngest a Parkway if he/she is over 40 lbs. If the child is under 40, I would get a Graco Turbobooster.

For the 7 year old, I would buy a backless booster if you have headrests in your car in Malaysia and if not, I probably would get a Parkway because it is very tall and will outlast the Monterey if I remember correctly.

As for shipping back, when you are in the states find a U Haul or similar moving truck rental place and buy a dish pack box. I suspect one will fit the booster backs.