car seats on SWA

[swirly]

My family and I will be traveling to WDW for the first time in February. We are flying Southwest. We plan to use a carseat on the plane for my son who will be 20 months old. He's 25 pounds and 27 inches tall currently. I am confused about what car seat to buy for him. He is still currently in his infant rear facing carseat in the car so we need to buy a new seat regardless of flying. Southwest says that the car seat width must be no wider than 16 inches. I have yet to find a car seat that even exists with dimensions this narrow. What have you all used on SWA specifically? Thanks!

 

[JillianLeigh]

I flew SW with my son, 18mo at the time and brought on his convertible car seat. We have the Recaro ProRide and it fit fine. He had to sit facing forward on the plane, and because he is in the 100th percentile for height, I had to keep him from kicking the seat in front of us. It was very easy to instal on the plane, and the flight attendants were a big help, since I was flying solo with a toddler. Good luck!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

This is one of the narrower car seats:

http://www.amazon.com/Diono-Olympia-Convertible-Booster-Graphite/dp/B00ISS2T9G/ref=dp_ob_title_baby

 

[GatorMama]

The Car Seats for The Littles group on FB a is an awesome resource. The infant seat you have now will most likely fit with a baseless install. We have had our son in an old Britax Marathon Classic FFing on the plane and that's one of the wider seats out there

 

[NotUrsula]

Read the label on the shell of the carseat. If it says "this restraint certified for use in aircraft" then you are good to go. You can raise the inside armrest if you need extra room to install it.

 

[Teacup53]

We flew in Jan 2013 with 2 toddlers (1 year and 2.5yr) and they were both in Britax Marathon 70 carseats (the convertible rear or forward facing). We asked for seatbelt extenders and I had read online that it would make it easier to install. We did and it went very smooth. The only issue was the carseat has to be installed in the window seat to allow for egress of other passengers so we did 2 seats in one row and 2 seats in the next

Middle - Window
Middle - Window

That way we could pass stuff back and forth easily.

Good luck and enjoy.

Forgot to mention the Britax carseats were FAA approved and measure about 18-19 wide.

 

[DCbride]

My family and I will be traveling to WDW for the first time in February. We are flying Southwest. We plan to use a carseat on the plane for my son who will be 20 months old. He's 25 pounds and 27 inches tall currently. I am confused about what car seat to buy for him. He is still currently in his infant rear facing carseat in the car so we need to buy a new seat regardless of flying. Southwest says that the car seat width must be no wider than 16 inches. I have yet to find a car seat that even exists with dimensions this narrow. What have you all used on SWA specifically? Thanks!

We fly about 3x a year since DD was 6 months. We used her Britax marathon for a lot of trips but it was very heavy and if using Disney transportation not needed the rest of the trip. So we ended up buying an "airplane seat", an inexpensive lightweight seat from Target, Costco brand.

 

[Teacup53]

I agree they are bulky we had used them with GoGobabyz to turn them into a wheelie luggage. They worked great because we could actually put the kids in the carseats and wheel them through the airport. Much faster to transport them this way and I knew where they were at all times.

We usually rent a car so having carseats the kids are comfortable in and that I know are safe is important to me. They nap well in their carseats - also important.

 

[Cedarmom]

If he still fits in his infant seat, take that, assuming it allows for a baseless install (double check--a couple don't). It'll be easier to carry than even a light convertible, and you won't get flack about trying to install rear facing. If you just feel like you have to go ahead and get him a convertible, the Evenflo sure ride or the cosco scenera are both lightweight choices. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the scenera for everyday use, but it's a great airplane seat. The Evenflo sureride is a great seat at home as well.

 

[makclair]

we used a cosco scenera with my 17 month old , but if he is well within the limits of his infant seat, i would just use that baseless (I assume you mean this feb?)

 

[CourtneyL]

Are you open to buying a convertible seat to use for the trip? If so, the Cosco Scenera and the Cosco Scenera NEXT are good travel seats. They are both lightweight and fairly easy to install. The Scenera is $39 at walmart, and the new Scenera NEXT is $45, also at walmart. The Scenera NEXT is a bit more compact front to back when rear facing and is slightly easier to install compared to the Scenera. Both seats weight about 8 or 9 pounds I think, so they are very easy to carry in the airport, or you can bungee cord it to a rolling carry on, or stroller.
The Scenera is a very popular travel car seat and I know of many people that have used it both rear facing and forward facing on Southwest without any problems. The Scenera NEXT only came out about a month ago, so you probably won't find many reviews of it yet.

 

[Mouseketeers4]

We just used a Britax Boulevard and a Diono Radian RXT on our Southwest flights a few months ago. We've also used them on several other flights in the US and I've never had any problems with them being too wide for any airline. The Diono is a little heavy, but the seat portion folds up and the back has little loops where you can hook a shoulder strap for easy carrying.

 

[MrToadfan]

We've used our Combi Cocorro on Southwest, rearfacing, without a problem well over a dozen times. It is extremely lightweight. It's not the best for taller/heavier children, so depending on your child's build it may or may not be the best match. I hear great things about the Cosco Scenara, as a few have mentioned here. It's inexpensive, lightweight, and might work well for a child with a larger build.

 

[jll2800]

We flew on SWA with my son when he was maybe around 26 months. We bought the Cosco Scenera. It's $40 at Walmart and relatively lightweight. We were able to bungee it to our rolling carry on suitcase and just rolled the whole thing through the airport, easy peasy. It was simple to strap into the airplane seat (forward facing) and the car we rented.

To me it was worthwhile to buy the extra seat for traveling so we saved the wear and tear on his primary car seat at home and because his home car seat is much, much heavier. We used the Scenera several times after that trip too, and it was always great. It's FAA approved, which is required on an airplane, so check to make sure whatever seat you want to use is on the approved list before you take it.

 

[PrincessBCF]

I fly with my DD about 10x a year (so approx 20 flights) and I've found the Evenflo Sureride 65 is a great option. we can stack it on top of our rolling luggage and it works very well. It is so light that even if it's a little bulky you really don't notice a weight difference! I would pick the lightest carseat you can find and then see if it's FAA approved (most are, it'll be on the box or the manual).

 

[OnThisMagicNight]

We have a Cosco Scenera that we use for traveling (our every day carseat was not FAA approved so we didn't have the option of bringing it - plus it's insanely heavy.) We have flown with it both rear and forward facing on Southwest with no issues. I wouldn't recommend it for every day use though - it's very bare bones with no cushioning or extras. It works out great for travel though. As others have mentioned, it's very lightweight and it's also cheap enough to justify keeping it for travel only (or for a 2nd car where it won't be used as often.)