Britax Marathon - How to Check at Airport?

[100AcreWood]

We're planning to bring our Marathon car seat since we're renting a car. Any suggestions on how to protect it from the airlines? I have this image of the seat being damaged during handling.

My dd is 4 so sitting in the seat on the plane isn't an option - her legs would hit the seat in front of her.

Thanks!

 

[msklcassidy]

My DS (now 8) travels with us a lot, and has since he was 6 weeks old. During his "car seat days" we always wrapped his seat in several large trash bags and taped them with the clear packing tape. Generally what we worried about was his seat getting dirty (have you seen how dirty a new suitcase gets?!) rather than damaged (i.e., cracked or broken). I always labeled it with our name, address and cell phone number and put (in big letters) CHILD CAR SEAT on the wrapped package. Never had a problem with it getting lost, broken or BIG black marks on it when we traveled.

Hope it helps.

 

[MOQu]

We just got back from WDW. Before leaving, I decided to invest $40 in a cheaper, lighter car seat instead of wrestling with our Britax Marathon like we did a few months ago. I'm glad I did. It was much easier to deal with. We bought a Cosco brand seat at Target and it worked fine. Last time I purchased a car seat carrier/cover for the Marathon at BabiesRUs and it worked OK too. The nicest part about getting a new one was not having to take the big seat out at the airport and put it back in when we got home.

 

[CharmedLife]

Not sure what they're doing now with new TSA requirements, but last year we brought our car seats right to the gate and then gate checked them. This way they didn't go through the luggage handling system, but were hand-carried to the plane and placed inside, then hand-carried back.

I know the marathon is pretty big so I'm not sure how you feel about lugging it around the airport (we always push it on the stroller, then gate check both items), but I always felt that it stayed at least a little more protected this way.

I do like the idea of the $40 one just for travelling, then you're not as worried since you didn't spend so much!

 

[tanyaandallie]

We have bought car seat covers for our kids marathons. They have wheels on them and a handle so you can wheel the car seat around which makes it easier. They work well but are not perfect. After the first use both of them got a whole in them. They still work, but not what i would expect for $30!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Don't discount using the Marathon on board!

We used ours on both a 737 and one of those tiny United/TED Canadair CRJ jets with our 3yo (he's 42" at age 4 now and always been in the 95% percential in height).

Now other than these two flights a year ago, I don't have any other experience with car seats on planes so I have to ask... why do you think her legs are going to hit the seat in front of her in the car seat any more than they would if she was not in the seat? It's not like the front edge of the car seat sticks way out from the front edge of the seat. Seats on planes are about as deep as seats in a car. In the car, you don't have problems with legs hitting the front seat, why would a plane be any different?

[Edit]
We had done a Disney Repo Cruise (FL to CA) and purchased one of those canvas covers at BRU to protect the seat. We checked it at the cruise terminal to be delivered to our stateroom and we had to check it for the bus trip between LAX sea port and LAX airport. In just that little amount of handling, this cover was ripped. I've also read horror stories on what has happend to strollers being gate-checked. You CAN'T expect stuff will not get harmed just because you gate-check it. If you can't affort to lose it, you've got to keep it in your posession.

 

[all4fun]

We just got back from WDW. Before leaving, I decided to invest $40 in a cheaper, lighter car seat instead of wrestling with our Britax Marathon like we did a few months ago. I'm glad I did. It was much easier to deal with. We bought a Cosco brand seat at Target and it worked fine. Last time I purchased a car seat carrier/cover for the Marathon at BabiesRUs and it worked OK too. The nicest part about getting a new one was not having to take the big seat out at the airport and put it back in when we got home.

Unfortunately most Cosco seats have fairly low top slots so this might not work for the OP's 4yr old (my ds outgrew his Cosco Touriva -$40 seat- and Cosco Alpha-Omega $150 seat at the same time by height at 34mos. The top harness slots are only 15"). An Evenflo Chase would probably work better as it's top harness slots are nearly as high as the MA's 17" top slots. You can pick one up for approx $70. It's also a combo seat so it sits lower than the MA does and would probably be more comfortable on the plane. We used a combo seat (Evenflo Bolero) on our last flight and ds could even use the airplane tray table because the seat base isn't quite as high up as the convertible seats are.

FYI: DS uses a Britax Blvd as his primary seat. I didn't want to lug that thing through airport which is why we use the Bolero for travel now, which is normally in MIL's car).

hth.

 

[100AcreWood]

Thanks for all the advice! We decided to gate check the seat.

We found out she was too tall to fit comfortably in the seat during our September 2005 trip. The problem is the Marathon raises her up so far that her knees hit the seat in front of her. It's not that the car seat makes her stick out farther, just the raised height in connection with the other seat. We're flying a different airline this time so it may be worth a shot.

 

[highsmith]

I have two Marathon Britax and I bought the Eddie Bauer cover for them. I haul them to the gate and gate check them, so there is no way they can be "lost" with checked baggage. It also does not count against your checked pieces this way. I would not buy a cheap carseat, as you may not be comfortable with what it has to offer. We have had no damage to ours andI stick dirty clothes in there sometimes, if I need extra room. I know that you can request to rent a car seat but I have been in line when two people were told it was a "request", not confirmed and they were high and dry!