We have a trip planned in May, and it will be the first time we are bringing a carseat on board (he has always been a lap child until now).

We are looking at the Britax Roundabout, because we can get the carseat and the travel cart and NOT break the bank. Wondering if anyone has experience with the Roundabout, or has any other recommendations. We are wanting to stay under $200, so as of now, we arent looking at Diono. We need a convertible, not a booster/harness. Our guy is little (will just be 2 in April, and is less than 30lbs).

Did you consider checking the car seat (it's free) and have the child sit on the plane seat?

That's what we're doing in a few weeks with our 2.5 yr old. I don't know if I wanna mess with lugging that car seat on the plane, with a toddler and with a 1 yr old.

We have thought about it and have done it before, but our flights are at good sleeping/napping times, and last time we checked a carseat, it got lost how, I don't know, but it didn't make it to our destination. Also, He was also a holy terror trying to keep him seated just using the lap belt.

We figure if we get a slimmer car seat and put it on the flights with us, he is more likely to nap, and the cart that folds compact and fits in the bin means we won't need a stroller.

That's our hope anyways. And I always feel there is nothing wrong with having an extra carseat

histag10 said:

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We have thought about it and have done it before, but our flights are at good sleeping/napping times, and last time we checked a carseat, it got lost how, I don't know, but it didn't make it to our destination. Also, He was also a holy terror trying to keep him seated just using the lap belt.

We figure if we get a slimmer car seat and put it on the flights with us, he is more likely to nap, and the cart that folds compact and fits in the bin means we won't need a stroller.

That's our hope anyways. And I always feel there is nothing wrong with having an extra carseat

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I was just reading on spirit that they will accommodate you in one of their larger seats if your car seat doesn't fit in their smallest ones. Maybe others have similar policies. They did have the dimensions on their website of their planes as well, I'm sure others have it. Smallest was like 17", larger seats were about 22".

What happens when you arrive and there the car sear is lost? How do you even leave the airport?!

Gate checked and lost? Wow.

I had a regular Greco infant convertible car seat and it fit on an American A319 Airbus. Now the person in front of the baby couldn't recline, but it did fit.

Mine is roughly the same size as the graco 65 I think. It's massive. We are flying southwest, so I think all of their seats are the same size.

The airlines have really cheap car seats at their customer service/ lost baggage desks. They loan them to you until yours is found.

Edit- yeah, southwest lists like 17-19 as the seat sizes. Unfortunately, our seat is like 24" wide

The Britax roundabout is 18.5 I think

We brought our car seat for the first time last fall and flew spirit. No issues at all - we didn't end up buying a travel car seat - just used our everyday Chicco and it worked fine. We bought a car seat travel caddy that you strap the seat on and can wheel around the airport - even with the kid strapped in. Wife got to get on the flight early to install the seat and I came towards the end with the kid, so it was super easy to be honest.

My wife has been pretty adamant the safest way to travel is with a car seat until they are big enough for the seat alone. Lots of stories about turbulence and injuries to little ones.

We brought ours on a SW flight. Same Greco infant car seat click and connect. It fit just fine. SW has a tad more space it seems on the 737.

Matsui said:

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We brought ours on a SW flight. Same Greco infant car seat click and connect. It fit just fine. SW has a tad more space it seems on the 737.

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Oh, I thought you meant one of the big graco convertible car seats. We are way past the infant ones. they were so easy too.

Ours was a full convertible car seat and it was fine on Spirit.

The last time we checked a car seat with Southwest, they lost it. I ended up having to buy another one and when I asked them for reimbursement they told me to GTFO....because they offered a loaner prior to me buying the new one....yes, a loaner that had dried food, snot, probably feces and urine covering it, and looked like it had been put through a wood chipper. I politely declined. When they told me they wouldn't pay, I launched a war on twitter with them. They tried offering me a voucher but I said hell no. I eventually just gave up. Southwest sucks. I did finally get the lost car seat back-3 weeks after we returned home.

Bassmaster said:

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The last time we checked a car seat with Southwest, they lost it. I ended up having to buy another one and when I asked them for reimbursement they told me to GTFO....because they offered a loaner prior to me buying the new one....yes, a loaner that had dried food, snot, probably feces and urine covering it, and looked like it had been put through a wood chipper. I politely declined. When they told me they wouldn't pay, I launched a war on twitter with them. They tried offering me a voucher but I said hell no. I eventually just gave up. Southwest sucks. I did finally get the lost car seat back-3 weeks after we returned home.

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Why didn't you just return the one you purchased once your original one came in? Or did they lose it for good?

It must have been your first kid.. I remember brand new sparkly car seats for our first one.. Second child? USED baby! I would have taken what ever they offered me.

62strat said:

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Bassmaster said:

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The last time we checked a car seat with Southwest, they lost it. I ended up having to buy another one and when I asked them for reimbursement they told me to GTFO....because they offered a loaner prior to me buying the new one....yes, a loaner that had dried food, snot, probably feces and urine covering it, and looked like it had been put through a wood chipper. I politely declined. When they told me they wouldn't pay, I launched a war on twitter with them. They tried offering me a voucher but I said hell no. I eventually just gave up. Southwest sucks. I did finally get the lost car seat back-3 weeks after we returned home.

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Why didn't you just return the one you purchased once your original one came in? Or did they lose it for good?

It must have been your first kid.. I remember brand new sparkly car seats for our first one.. Second child? USED baby! I would have taken what ever they offered me.

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Isnt that horribly frowned upon because you cant verify it is accident free? I also dont think most places will allow you to return a carseat that has been used.


Trust me when I say the loaner carseats that airlines have are sketchy at best. They also seem horribly aged, and likely past their expiration date (our didnt even have a LATCH system). The fabric was torn and stained, and the plastic had areas where you could visibly tell it was weakened.

I dont fault someone for buying a new carseat. We used the loaner to get to a family member's house, and then used one of their spares until ours was found.

histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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Bassmaster said:

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The last time we checked a car seat with Southwest, they lost it. I ended up having to buy another one and when I asked them for reimbursement they told me to GTFO....because they offered a loaner prior to me buying the new one....yes, a loaner that had dried food, snot, probably feces and urine covering it, and looked like it had been put through a wood chipper. I politely declined. When they told me they wouldn't pay, I launched a war on twitter with them. They tried offering me a voucher but I said hell no. I eventually just gave up. Southwest sucks. I did finally get the lost car seat back-3 weeks after we returned home.

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Why didn't you just return the one you purchased once your original one came in? Or did they lose it for good?

It must have been your first kid.. I remember brand new sparkly car seats for our first one.. Second child? USED baby! I would have taken what ever they offered me.

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Isnt that horribly frowned upon because you cant verify it is accident free? I also dont think most places will allow you to return a carseat that has been used.


Trust me when I say the loaner carseats that airlines have are sketchy at best. They also seem horribly aged, and likely past their expiration date (our didnt even have a LATCH system). The fabric was torn and stained, and the plastic had areas where you could visibly tell it was weakened.

I dont fault someone for buying a new carseat. We used the loaner to get to a family member's house, and then used one of their spares until ours was found.

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I'm just trying to figure out how this person refused the loaner, purchased a new one and got it to the airport to use to leave. Seems like he'd have to use the loaner to at least leave the airport and go get a new one.. why not just use it a few more days?

A return policy is a return policy, and babies r us will take them back, surely others will. I mean, people buy them and they don't fit, they don't like them, they were gifts with no receipt, etc.
Go to BRU, and you'll likely find discounted/open box car seats.. those are returns.

Expiration dates are stamped on all car seats, or a manufacture date with a 'don't use past x years' stamp.

2 parents travelling. 1 leaves to go buy new carseat while other stays at airport with child. Parent 1 comes back with new carseat installed, and everyone safely leaves.

This is fairly common. I know quite a few people who flew, went to walmart and picked up a cheap carseat (usually around $50), and then picked up kid and other parent because they didnt want to travel with a carseat (checked or not) for an under 2 child.



It must be a store-by-store policy. I went back and checked my e receipt from toys r us/babies r us (ours is a combined store) for our last car seat, and it said all car seat sales are final. Returns are only only accepted for defective items, and it must be processed through the manufacturer and not toys r us/babies r us


Edit: on the one we got, you could no longer read the expiration/manufacture date. it had worn off.

histag10 said:

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2 parents travelling. 1 leaves to go buy new carseat while other stays at airport with child. Parent 1 comes back with new carseat installed, and everyone safely leaves.

This is fairly common. I know quite a few people who flew, went to walmart and picked up a cheap carseat (usually around $50), and then picked up kid and other parent because they didnt want to travel with a carseat (checked or not) for an under 2 child.

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How cow.. landing into a decently large city at during the weekday.. that would take, oh, about 6 more hours than I would be willing to wait hah! Maybe that's feasible flying into Bozeman or something

To each their own I suppose. Refused loaner car seat because covered in food, bodily fluids, germs and possibly not safe.. -- Places child in airplane seat.


Your second sentence.. they just throw away the $50 seat? I mean, if they flew back with it, well then they could have just flown with it to begin with.


RE: expiration dates.. the ones I've dealt with (a good dozen or so, all different brands) have all been stamped into the plastic, on bottom of the seat.. that was worn off? yeh if that's worn off, it's probably from our child hood hah.

62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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2 parents travelling. 1 leaves to go buy new carseat while other stays at airport with child. Parent 1 comes back with new carseat installed, and everyone safely leaves.

This is fairly common. I know quite a few people who flew, went to walmart and picked up a cheap carseat (usually around $50), and then picked up kid and other parent because they didnt want to travel with a carseat (checked or not) for an under 2 child.

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How cow.. landing into a decently large city at during the weekday.. that would take, oh, about 6 more hours than I would be willing to wait hah! Maybe that's feasible flying into Bozeman or something

To each their own I suppose. Refused loaner car seat because covered in food, bodily fluids, germs and possibly not safe.. -- Places child in airplane seat.


Your second sentence.. they just throw away the $50 seat? I mean, if they flew back with it, well then they could have just flown with it to begin with.


RE: expiration dates.. the ones I've dealt with (a good dozen or so, all different brands) have all been stamped into the plastic, on bottom of the seat.. that was worn off? yeh if that's worn off, it's probably from our child hood hah.

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you know, I see how it would be a pain flying in an out of DIA, considering its basically in the middle of nowhere . The ones I know that have done that are usually flying to visit family, and give it to grandparents to keep for visits, or donate it to a women's shelter.


yeah, the expiration date being worn off was VERY off putting for us. which is why we only used it to get to my family, and then borrowed one of theirs.

I have started looking into flying with our monstrosity, and it can apparently be done if you are in business or first class fairly easily. Its the coach/economy seats that cause a problem, which basically means I cant bring it on Southwest. Our last flight with our kid was at Christmas (20 months old), and it definitely made me want to strap him into a seat on those flights. Lord, he was a HOLY TERROR. He was so much easier as a lap child when he was smaller and was content sitting in our laps. Also, holding a kid basically means you cant use your tray, which I find is a necessity for holding my alcohol, which is a necessity when flying with a toddler.

histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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2 parents travelling. 1 leaves to go buy new carseat while other stays at airport with child. Parent 1 comes back with new carseat installed, and everyone safely leaves.

This is fairly common. I know quite a few people who flew, went to walmart and picked up a cheap carseat (usually around $50), and then picked up kid and other parent because they didnt want to travel with a carseat (checked or not) for an under 2 child.

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How cow.. landing into a decently large city at during the weekday.. that would take, oh, about 6 more hours than I would be willing to wait hah! Maybe that's feasible flying into Bozeman or something

To each their own I suppose. Refused loaner car seat because covered in food, bodily fluids, germs and possibly not safe.. -- Places child in airplane seat.


Your second sentence.. they just throw away the $50 seat? I mean, if they flew back with it, well then they could have just flown with it to begin with.


RE: expiration dates.. the ones I've dealt with (a good dozen or so, all different brands) have all been stamped into the plastic, on bottom of the seat.. that was worn off? yeh if that's worn off, it's probably from our child hood hah.

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you know, I see how it would be a pain flying in an out of DIA, considering its basically in the middle of nowhere .

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Say what you will, but I'm fairly certain driving from IAH or DFW to the nearest walmart would take twice as long as DIA to the nearest walmart


My 2.5 year old doesn't know it yet, but the 1 year old is riding on his lap!

Car seats you can't return

And all car seats meet the safety minimum required by law

Maybe try googling your car seat and plane and see if anything pops up

was your car seat lost when it was gate checked? If you were willing to try gate-checking (again?), you could get this airplane toddler seat belt thing: https://www.amazon.com/Child-Airplane-Travel-Harness-Restraint/dp/B0012E4FV8. It's a harnessed belt so maybe it would be enough like his car seat's harness that he would be comfortable and fall asleep. I took a car seat on a plane once with my 2-year old. One issue was that the car seat made my kid really close to the back of the seat in front of him and whenever he would move his legs, he would end up kicking the seat in front of him. So I think he ended up in our laps instead of sitting in his car seat for most of the flight anyway.

Thank you for the reply, but as I stated above, I am looking for a car seat. I'm aware of the CARES harness, and if I'm going to drop $70, I'm going to get a carseat that I can use more than a few times a year. Also, with a carseat, we can get a cart and eliminate the need for a stroller.

This is what we have been using with our everyday convertible car seat
https://jet.com/product/detail/3e8097c1070e4e13bdd0ecd70bdf8c92?gclid=CIub4e-03NICFdG2wAodY1AP0w

Thanks! How well does it fit in overhead bin? I have been looking at that and the Britax one (mainly because of the LATCH loops)

No issues storing it in the overhead.

Now thinking about it my wife said the biggest pain was getting from the plane door to the seat since the car seat was too wide to roll down the aisle. But it's still light enough to handle - helped with me staying behind with the kid until she had it setup.

yeah, ours is really wide (24" I believe) and fairly heavy, it comes in just under 30lbs.

Which is another reason I'm looking for a different "travel" carseat. Looking for slimmer and lighter.

We have used Britax car seats at every stage of our kids' car seat needs. They are great car seats, no matter the model or age of kid you get them for.

BUT, I don't advise using them for air travel. They are usually heavy and are expensive car seats to replace due to damage or being lost. What we always used for vacations that required bringing car seats on the plane or gate checking the seats was the following car seat- Cosco Scenera.
It is a cheap car seat made in the USA. You can usually pick one up at Target or Walmart for around $45. Its light and easy to carry through the airport. My kids also seemed very comfortable in the Cosco. I have recommended it to lots of my friends over the years and they all agree that it is the best seat for air travel. I believe it only is appropriate for kids who weigh up to 40 pounds.

murphyag said:

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We have used Britax car seats at every stage of our kids' car seat needs. They are great car seats, no matter the model or age of kid you get them for.

BUT, I don't advise using them for air travel. They are usually heavy and are expensive car seats to replace due to damage or being lost. What we always used for vacations that required bringing car seats on the plane or gate checking the seats was the following car seat- Cosco Scenera.
It is a cheap car seat made in the USA. You can usually pick one up at Target or Walmart for around $45. Its light and easy to carry through the airport. My kids also seemed very comfortable in the Cosco. I have recommended it to lots of my friends over the years and they all agree that it is the best seat for air travel. I believe it only is appropriate for kids who weigh up to 40 pounds.

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Thank you! I have been looking at that as well as the Cosco Apt. 50, but wasnt sure about it. It almost seems like the price is too good to be true haha. But I think the Apt. 50 is still pretty wide.

We were looking at the Rounabout because its 18.5" wide, weighs less than 25lbs, and I could get it for about $130 or $140, which I find to be a good price for a Britax.

No, not my first child. This was for my youngest who is 3. I didn't return it because we used it for a week, although I offered to give it to southwest in exchange for them paying for it. The poster above is right, you can't verify that it hasn't been in an accident. Also, we didn't need it until the following day. We flew into Denver, took the train to our hotel downtown and stayed there until the following day when we were heading to the mountains. Southwest told me I would have it at my hotel that night, so that is another reason I declined the loaner. The courier company set up delivery, but then claimed they never got it from southwest, so I gave up and bought a new one the morning we left Denver.

Haven't read all the responses but we just purchased an Evenflo Maestro for a flight and trip. Same price as renting a yucky carseat on the trip. It is the perfect size to put on an airplane. It was right under $60 on Amazon

OP- we did this a few years ago for our first. A 4 hour flight to Boston late at night and it allowed her to sleep. We used the Roundabout Britax car seat with their travel cart. We ditched the stroller and she loved being pulled around in the cart. Super easy. The car seat fit just fine. She was forward facing so the person in front could still recline. We didn't have to wait for the baggage and wonder if the seat had been damaged.

We have child #2 who is no longer a lap infant. When we go again this summer I will be strapping him in. Mainly because he needs to be strapped in and won't sit still. Last lap trip he asked to get off the plane 30 minutes into the 4 hour flight. It was the longest flight of my life.

We always travel with our car seats. Too many horror stories from my BIL who used to work for Hertz.

Thanks! Have you flown SW with it? My concern is it possibly being too big for their seats (width)

They should be fine.

If you need to constrict them on the airplane, then the travel harness linked above would be ideal. For the car seat at your destination, we use a Ride Safer harness along with an inflatable booster cushion. All would tuck into a small backpack. Ride Safer is easy to install and just as easy as a car seat to get in and out of.

It has been a life changer not to travel with a giant car seat. Especially since they have to ride in them until the mid-20's now.

flown-the-coop said:

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If you need to constrict them on the airplane, then the travel harness linked above would be ideal. For the car seat at your destination, we use a Ride Safer harness along with an inflatable booster cushion. All would tuck into a small backpack. Ride Safer is easy to install and just as easy as a car seat to get in and out of.

It has been a life changer not to travel with a giant car seat. Especially since they have to ride in them until the mid-20's now.

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As I have stated, a harness will not work for my child. He is still in a rear facing carseat, and in some places we will be travelling through, not having him rear facing is against the law. Also, as I have already stated, if I'm going to spend $60+, Im just going to buy a new carseat, rather than buy a harness I will only use a few times a year. Also, the RideSafe harness is roughly $150+.


I'm sorry, and thank you for the suggestion, but that is not at all what I was asking about in my OP, and I have made that clear (I feel) when others suggested something similar.