Convertible Car Seat

[HunnyJar]

Can anyone recommend a convertible car seat that is airline approved? We haven't yet decided on getting a seat for my daughter on our upcoming flight, but if we do get her a seat we will need to buy a new car seat that is airline approved. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Derby]

If you just want a seat for travel and/or a back-up seat, I would get a Cosco Scenera. You can find them for $45-$50, they are extremely lightweight, and even come with their own travel bag. I bought ours at Target but they are also at Wal-Mart, Sears, and maybe Babies R Us.

 

[msmama]

If you just want a seat for travel and/or a back-up seat, I would get a Cosco Scenera. You can find them for $45-$50, they are extremely lightweight, and even come with their own travel bag. I bought ours at Target but they are also at Wal-Mart, Sears, and maybe Babies R Us.

I second this.

If it's an "all the time" carseat though, I'd go with something better.

 

[Cedarmom]

All of the convertible seats you can buy in the US are FAA approved. Look on the side to make sure, but I'm relatively certain you can't get one that isn't. A Britax Regent isn't, but 1. it isn't a convertible, and 2. a 10 month old shouldn't be in it anyway.

And I agree w/ the others. A Scenera is a great choice for an 'airplane seat', but notsomuch for an everyday seat. Other good choices are the Britax Marathon and the Graco MyRide.

 

[mrs.explorer1977]

We have a Sunshine Kids Radian. It's great for travel, because the seat folds and it's got a carrying strap. It's also installed in DH's Jeep full time.

 

[gymboqueenkaylee]

I LOVE the Britax Marathon and it's FAA approved and it's an awesome seat for daily use. Well worth the money spent on it. We have one and LOVE it. I even made a believer out my mother who thought all car seats were the same!

 

[MarriedToAPrince]

I LOVE the Britax Marathon and it's FAA approved and it's an awesome seat for daily use. Well worth the money spent on it. We have one and LOVE it. I even made a believer out my mother who thought all car seats were the same!

Couldn't agree with this more!! We actually have 2, one in each vehicle.

 

[moparop]

If you just want a seat for travel and/or a back-up seat, I would get a Cosco Scenera. You can find them for $45-$50, they are extremely lightweight, and even come with their own travel bag. I bought ours at Target but they are also at Wal-Mart, Sears, and maybe Babies R Us.

That's what I was going to suggest -- a great back-up, traveling seat!

 

[Momtotwogirls]

You can not go wrong with Britax Marathon and at albeebaby.com they are having wonderful sales on them. HTH!

Also, we have the Cosco Scenera as a back up carseat. The install sucks on it, but for a travel/second seat it is fine. I would not want it as my all the time seat for my kids, though.

 

[HunnyJar]

Thank you so much for your responses!! I really appreciate it. It's been a LONG time since I even had to worry about a convertible car seat, so I'm a bit rusty on all of it. My son is 14 and my daughter is going to be 1 during our trip next month.. Bit of an age gap there. Anyway, I'm going to take a look at all the suggested car seats this weekend!

Thanks again!

 

[BCMM]

We also have the Sunshine Kids Radian. Its great because it folds and we also needed a narrow car seat to fit in my car.

 

[stephen11]

We are buying this car seat for air travel only for our one-year old. Is it difficult to install in the airplane seat?

 

[Swimalie]

All of the convertible seats you can buy in the US are FAA approved. Look on the side to make sure, but I'm relatively certain you can't get one that isn't. A Britax Regent isn't, but 1. it isn't a convertible, and 2. a 10 month old shouldn't be in it anyway.

Um.. why are you saying a 10 month old shouldn't be in a convertible seat? My son was in one at 6 months when he grew out of his infant seat. Most convertible seats start at 5 lbs. I believe the "rule of thumb" is that the child needs to be able too hold their head up. My son is still in a convertible seat at age 5 and will be until he outgrows it in height. We have the Britax Frontier. I don't know how well it fits in an airline seat, though since we just got it in Dec and haven't used it on a plane yet. Before that we had a Boulevard and loved it! It was relatively easy to put in an airplane seat.

 

[bumbershoot]

Also, we have the Cosco Scenera as a back up carseat. The install sucks on it, but for a travel/second seat it is fine. I would not want it as my all the time seat for my kids, though.

FWIW, in DH's car (at the time), the Scenera was a much easier install than the Roundabout was! It all depends on the car and where you're putting it. DH never wanted the Roundabout in his car b/c it was such a pain to get in there.

Um.. why are you saying a 10 month old shouldn't be in a convertible seat? My son was in one at 6 months when he grew out of his infant seat.

They were saying that a 10 month old shouldn't be in a *Regent*. And they shouldn't be.



OP, are you looking for a new seat b/c you need one anyway? Or because you have something that's not approved? If it's the latter, are you sure it's not approved?

 

[HunnyJar]

FWIW, in DH's car (at the time), the Scenera was a much easier install than the Roundabout was! It all depends on the car and where you're putting it. DH never wanted the Roundabout in his car b/c it was such a pain to get in there.



They were saying that a 10 month old shouldn't be in a *Regent*. And they shouldn't be.



OP, are you looking for a new seat b/c you need one anyway? Or because you have something that's not approved? If it's the latter, are you sure it's not approved?[/QUOTE]

I wrote this back in January prior to our trip. We currently have a carseat that is good up until 32 lbs, but we didn't want to bring that whole seat plus base with us on the flight. Anyway.. Everything worked out.

 

[Swimalie]

They were saying that a 10 month old shouldn't be in a *Regent*. And they shouldn't be.

I stand corrected. I forgot a Regent is a forward facing only car seat. I should have known that but it is a new car seat since we turned out son forward facing at 2.5 years old. We already had the Boulevard then so we didn't look at new seats.