Gate Checking a Britax

I've done quite a bit of traveling, as all of our family is on the west coast. We have the Britax Marathon, but I have never taken it with me due to the size and expense. My friend had her's broken once and they would not replace it. So, for traveling I bought a cheap Cosco carseat, I think it was about $45. We then installed it in my husbands car and he occasionally uses it with our son. To me, it was worth it because if it gets broken while traveling, you are only out a couple of bucks instead of $300 or so. Also, i have heard that if you have the bigger version, like the Decathalon that they will not fit in the airline seats.

You can check it at the gate for free along with your stroller. we kept the boxes for our twins carseats and just put them in the box and taped them up. No damage and no expense. Don't forget Huggies overnights and a change of clothes for the baby. Good luck:)

We have the big ole Britax Marathon and we always use the sky cap cause as soon as we get out of the car (park in front of sky cap) they grab it and put it in a bag for you. It's so worth doing that. That seat is so heavy. We always have so many bags and it's worth the buck a bag tip for the load off.

Check with your airline. Ours did not count the car seat as a checked bag, and even if you do not purchase a seat if there are any extra on the plane they will allow you to bring it with you. We gate checed the stroller and the car seat.

Depending on how may trips you plan on taking on planes they have a car seat "dolly" at Babies R u so you do not have to carry it I think it was $70.00 or so. But it depends on how much you plan to travel if you plan to get it.

We've put it in a travel bag with a strap which made it easy to put over a shoulder. And then we checked it in at the gate. From what I can remember, we were able to have both a car seat and stroller checked at the gate for each infant/toddler. You might want to check with the airline. I hate to check the seat in as luggage for fear of it getting "crushed," I guess (although, they're supposed to be sturdy enough to withstand car accidents, right?).

The other thing we once did was to rent a car seat from the car rental for $50. I guess it would depend if you are staying for awhile to make the rental fee worth it and if you're renting a car.

Hope that helps!