Seats and Planes

We are traveling next Saturday with our boys. We have never use their carseats in planes (blushing with shame). Now that I know the risks, I would like to do things right.

My boys are each, 4.8 Y/O, 37 lbs, 40 inches.
We have the following seats (2 of each):

GN - currently installed in my Suburban
AE-Apex 65 - currently installed in DH's Silverado
Evenflo Triumph - I just took them out of DH's truck. Boys' ears still have about 1 inch to the top of the shell.

We'll be traveling with Delta and AA

Which seat should and CAN take in the plane with me?

Thanks a lot.

Are their shoulders above the top slots in the Trimuph?

I think I would take the Nautilus' or the Trimuphs.

I don't think I would try to do a side by side with the seats if you can avoid it though. I don't know how you purchased seats...if you have 2 window seats, I'd put the boys there and then you and hubby in the center seat next to them.

To get them through the airport...pick up at least one luggage cart from target/wal-mart. You might be able to stack the seats one on top of the other.

Susan

Susan,

The shoulder straps are still above their shoulders in the ET.
We purchased 14 and 15th row seats (2 and 2), so they would be next to an adult (DH and me). I wouldn't dare let them seat together in a 3 hr flight!

I honestly rather take the Triumphs as they are not installed and the GN are solid in my truck, I would hate to take them out though!

So, the airlines shouldn't give me any trouble right?

ETA: Thank you Susan!

I *think* one of the airlines recently said that they won't allow the use of seats past a certain weigh 40 pounds. I don't think they put an age cap on it.

As long as the boys fit...and you can locate on their seats where it says it's approved for aircraft use, you shouldn't have a problem. People get into sticky situations when they are RF more than FF.

The boys won't be able to use the tray tables with the ET's. I don't know if anyone's used the GN's on a plane yet to see if the trays work with them.

Susan

Thanks again Susan! :thumbsup:

SusanMae said:

I *think* one of the airlines recently said that they won't allow the use of seats past a certain weigh 40 pounds. I don't think they put an age cap on it.

Click to expand...

It was USAir, and they reversed that and now have no age or weight limits mentioned in their CRS recommendations.

Wendy

Thanks Wendy...I hadn't seen that update.

Susan

I would take the Nautili

They sit lower than the Evenflos... they are narrower than the Apexes... so it just makes sense.

I like legs as low as possible in those cramped seating areas for keeping the kids from kicking the poor soul in front of them.

And width just gives you more seating room.

Also, and this is purely from the child's perspective, having the cubbies and the good cupholder will prove good in holding snacks and drinks.

From your perspective, the cupholder can be a Crayon holder... and the cubbies can hold rolled up/folded artwork.

Take them each a baking sheet or get them one of those soft trays for on the carseat, and they can doodle their hearts away.

Heck, they could just fill the cubbies and the cupholder with small toys, games, and stuff, and then keep their tray more free for what they are doing!

I'd stick in decks of cards, sheets from coloring books, stickers (they can put them on the armrests or on their pictures), new boxes of crayons, glue sticks, and bring along lots of paper (and for the glue sticks, bring along crafts they can make with everything already cut out so you won't need scissors).

Oh... and with the carry on bag... have them pack backpacks... after they are buckled up, have them put the backpacks on backwards... so they can access them in the front and not bug you to get them things.

Thanks for the great ideas! :thumbsup:

We flew with our GN last month on SunCountry. The tray tables can come down part way and MIGHT work for something like coloring (DS used a notebook with a stiff back instead), but not for setting drinks on or anything. The cubbies worked great for storing small things and it was really nice having a place to put his drink.

It installed fairly easily when I reclined the seat, tightened the belt and then pushed the seat back up.

Any other questions, just ask.

Tina

Even though the trays wouldn't work with the Evenflos, I still think I would take them. Just on the off chance that you get seperated from your seats, I would personally prefer to risk the seats that don't have a ton of life left for your family.:twocents:

Yeah, I am taking the ETs since I will not be using them anymore after this. The GN are so nicely installed in my car that I would hate to move them!

Thanks Tina.

Kat, I just got a luggage cart at Wmart for $ 20. Going to try the seats today to see if everything fits! (fingers crossed)