Flying with Avenue--What did I do wrong?

[NatesMamma]

DS and I just completed a long trip. The plane was, I believe, a 737. (At any rate, it had three seats on either side of the aisle.) We were in one of the last rows of seats. DS--12.5 months, 31", 23 lb--was RF in his Avenue.

First off, I couldn't get a decent install on the plane. The huge belt buckle ended up right under DS's leg, which looked really uncomfortable. And it was next to impossible to access the RF belt path, either to route the belt or to unbuckle it once it was crammed all the way under there. My install was honestly horrible. What's the trick?

Secondly, I absolutely could not get the Avenue to fit front to back between the rows of seats. It was way too upright, and DS woke up every time he dozed off because his head immediately flopped forward. Is this just something I'll have to learn to deal with?

TIA!

 

[lorismurph]

What if you went with FF just for airline travel? I know that the Avenue is supposed to be easier to install FF and not need a towel or noodles. Can you install it in the recline mode for FF? I know the Scenera you can, not sure on this one (check the manual). Just a thought. Since airline travel is so much safer, most of the time, we say you'd be okay to FF just on the plane with one that's over a year.

 

[LuvMyCharlie]

When I flew with our Uptown(same shell) last year, I don't recall having any of those problems except for the buckle being right under his leg. To install, I reclined the plane's seat and removed the cover from the bottom of the carseat so I could see what I was doing. Routed the belt, tightened, replaced cover. After all that I sat the airplane seat back upright for an extra tight install. It was quite upright but I just held his head if it started to flop. My DS doesn't sleep much in carseats so it wasn't a huge pain for me. Really, any RF seat is going to be that upright unless you have something small like the Coccoro. You should've seen his Marathon on our next flight!

Here's a pic of the Uptown on the plane.

 

[Maedze]

Going forward facing for airline travel would be misuse, as the child is not yet 34".

OP, often to get a good angle with the avenue you'll need a rolled towel or pool noodle.

 

[NatesMamma]

It wasn't that I just needed a noodle for the RF angle. The Avenue honestly didn't fit between the rows of seats. (That said, I had DS's seat upright during the install. Reclining it before installing the Avenue would probably help. I was just too flustered to think to do that.)

When I tried to recline the Avenue properly, it wedged so tightly between the backs of the seats that DS was on and the seat in front of that one that I simply could not physically move the CR into a more reclined angle. (Does that make sense?) This wasn't a problem on one of our connecting flights, where there was a different type of plane with a little more room to work with.

 

[Maedze]

Hmmm....any chance the passenger in front of you had reclined his seat?

 

[NatesMamma]

Nope. Seat in front of DS was upright. Although when the guy tried to recline his seat later in the flight, it undid the little bit of progress I made in getting DS's CR reclined a tiny bit. :thumbsdown:

 

[wendytthomas]

Laine's Avenue was ramrod straight. I held her head up, or she slept on my lap (but she was three months).

The install was super easy, just pull back the cover and it's right there. Piper never complained about the buckle under her legs, and Laine was too little to care.

Wendy

 

[NatesMamma]

Maybe the buckle thing is more of an issue for me than for DS.

It's been awhile since I removed the cover on the Avenue. I usually just thread the belt under it. Aren't the little plastic tabs where the cover hooks located way up under the seat? (I could check, but I don't feel like venturing out to the driveway at midnight in my PJs.) If so, do you just leave the cover unhooked for the flight?

Also, I found this:
http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/avia...afety/info/all_infos/media/2009/info09002.pdf

Specifically:

2) An aft-facing CRS that cannot be installed properly because of minimal pitch (distance between seats) between rows can be moved to a bulkhead seat or a seat in a row with additional pitch.

A too upright CR cannot be considered properly installed, right? Should I try and request another seat if I run into this problem again? Of course, I purchase a ticket for DS for safety, but it's also partly out of convenience/comfort for me, and although I doubt my having to support his head is a safety concern for him, it isn't exactly enjoyable for me. I don't want to be a PITA passenger, though...