Travel Help!!

walnutgold · Jul 21, 2016

My enormous family will be traveling to visit relatives. We have some choices to make.
Question one: DH and I will be traveling in one vehicle with our six children. What 8 passenger vehicle would you suggest we rent? All six are in car seats.
Question two: Which seats to use?
I have gone through and narrowed our seat selection down, elimating boosters and very wide seats. These are my kids' stats. What seats would you recommend for each of them?
DS1 (8)- 60 lbs., 55”, 18” shoulders (Harnessed FF)
DS2 (6)- 36 lbs., 40”, 13.5” shoulders (Harnessed RF due to low tone, though he can ride FF in a very reclined seat)
DS3 (5)- 43 lbs., 46”, 16” shoulders (Harnessed FF)
DS4 (3)- 31 lbs., 37”, 14” shoulders (Harnessed RF, can ride FF if ABSOLUTELY needed)
DS5 (nearly 2)- 25 lbs., 29”, 10.5” shoulders (Harnessed RF)
DD1 (nearly 2)- 27lbs., 30”, 11” shoulders (Harnessed RF)
Seats available to us:
Britax Frontier
Britax Pioneer
Evenflo Maestro
Graco Tranzitions
Harmony Defender
Snugli Combination Booster
Graco Extend2Fit (2)
Chicco NextFit CX
Cosco Apt 50
Graco MyRide 65 LX
Diono Radian RXT (3)
Graco SnugRide 40 (2)
Question three:
What travel luggage cart(s) would be best for traveling through the airport? I am planning on installing seats for all kids on the plane.
Thank you so much!

LISmama810 · Jul 21, 2016

Is buying a couple new, inexpensive seats and option? Flying with six kids, I'd want to go as lightweight as possible (and as skinny as possible since it might be a tight fit in the car).

I'd get BubbleBums or some other lightweight backless booster for the two older ones, take the Defender and Maestro for the middle two, and get Scenera Nexts for the little ones.

walnutgold · Jul 21, 2016

LISmama810 said:
Is buying a couple new, inexpensive seats and option? Flying with six kids, I'd want to go as lightweight as possible (and as skinny as possible since it might be a tight fit in the car).

I'd get BubbleBums or some other lightweight backless booster for the two older ones, take the Defender and Maestro for the middle two, and get Scenera Nexts for the little ones.

My 8yo doesn't do well with backless boosters, it's a long shot but we have a month so we will start to work on that. My 5yo is not ready for even a high back booster and my 6yo has special needs and needs to be harnessed in a reclined position. I would prefer not to purchase new seats, but I may have to.
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bubbaray · Jul 21, 2016

I would work on getting the 5yo in a HBB and the 8yo in a LBB. That still leaves 4 harnessed seats and I don't know how you would manage flying with that many. I would call the airline and see if they will permit that (they seem to have so many family unfriendly rules these days).

I would do scenaras for the two 2 yos and a maestro for the 3yo. That's about as light as you can get.

I'm not sure about the SNs seat. Would he fit in a maestro?

ETA and I would rent a Suburban or Expedition.

lgenne · Jul 21, 2016

I would get 3 Scenera NEXTs for the youngest 3. They can all stack inside each other for easy transport. And a Graco Contender for the 6 year old.

Will anyone be meeting you at your destination? If so, I would ship a couple of lightweight seats there (assuming you can get by without them for a few days) and/or bring a backless for the oldest. The 8 year old and 5 year old should both be fine with just the lap belt on the plane.

Dillipop · Jul 21, 2016

I agree with the others. You'll need to either booster or send seats ahead or borrow seats at your destination from trusted people for the 8 and 5 year olds. 3 scenera next for the little ones (or the 2 snug ride 40's if they do not need a base to be used and maybe the apt 50) and the maestro or possible an e2f or my ride for the 6 year old.

Remember that on the plane, you will need to divide and conquer with your kids. What airline are you on? Do you have seats yet? How did you configure it?

If you are able, I'd put 2 harnessed kids in window and middle with an adult on the aisle with a nonharnessed child across the aisle in the aisle seat. Then repeat in the row behind with the other set of adult and kids.

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bubbaray · Jul 21, 2016

Have you looked on Seat Guru to see how your seating will work on the aircraft?

walnutgold · Jul 21, 2016

Dillipop said:
I agree with the others. You'll need to either booster or send seats ahead or borrow seats at your destination from trusted people for the 8 and 5 year olds. 3 scenera next for the little ones (or the 2 snug ride 40's if they do not need a base to be used and maybe the apt 50) and the maestro or possible an e2f or my ride for the 6 year old.

Remember that on the plane, you will need to divide and conquer with your kids. What airline are you on? Do you have seats yet? How did you configure it?

If you are able, I'd put 2 harnessed kids in window and middle with an adult on the aisle with a nonharnessed child across the aisle in the aisle seat. Then repeat in the row behind with the other set of adult and kids.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We are flying Delta. We have a little "pod" of six seats and then two in a row on the other side. We are going to have to start booster training like crazy for the 5yo.
We might end up bringing the backless portion of our Parkway SG-L and a Graco TurboBooster for 8yo and 5yo. Then the two SnugRides for the nearly 2yos and the Radians for the 6yo and 3yo because of their narrowness. But if the weight is too much we will go MyRide and Apt 50.
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lgenne · Jul 21, 2016

The downside to the Snugrides is that they are bulky and don't stack with each other or other seats. 3 Scenera NEXTs don't take up all that much more space than one if you stack them.

lgenne · Jul 22, 2016

Oh, if you can't ship ahead: for the 8 year old, definitely backless (start working on it now) and for the 5 year old, either the Maestro (maybe you could rig it up backpack style for him to carry himself) or if you want to really explode your budget, an IMMI Go. Fits in the overhead bin and is super narrow.

Carrie_R · Jul 22, 2016

It's not cheap, but RSTV might be a good option for 5yo (and maybe also 8yo.) What vehicle are these going into upon arrival? For it's going to be a tight squeeze, I might pony up for the RSTV for the 5yo.

Is 6yo going to be okay FFing in the Radian on the plane? I suspect the airline will fight you on RFing a child that old.

bubbaray · Jul 22, 2016

The thing with the vests will be TAs in the rental. I would try to limit the seats needing TAs because that helps in the rental

walnutgold · Jul 22, 2016

Carrie_R said:
It's not cheap, but RSTV might be a good option for 5yo (and maybe also 8yo.) What vehicle are these going into upon arrival? For it's going to be a tight squeeze, I might pony up for the RSTV for the 5yo.

Is 6yo going to be okay FFing in the Radian on the plane? I suspect the airline will fight you on RFing a child that old.

That's the issues. We will be renting an 8 passenger minivan for sure, meaning we need narrow seats. We will need narrow seats to fit in the vehicle.
We might go backless Parkway for 8yo, MyRide for 6yo, Tranzitions for 5yo, and radians for 3yo and 2yos. My 5yo is not booster ready and he really won't be by the time we leave.
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ketchupqueen · Jul 23, 2016

bubbaray said:
The thing with the vests will be TAs in the rental. I would try to limit the seats needing TAs because that helps in the rental

The RSTV doesn't require a tether anchor when used with a lap and shoulder belt. (Only when used with lap only belt.) Vests would maximize the number of kids to safely fit with a limited amount of space and tether anchors for that reason.

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