Ever Traveled with Your Britax Marathon

If you're renting a car, rent a car seat and save yourself the worry. I've traveled with mine once. It's HEAVY and was fine (I flew SW as well and it wasn't damaged). It's just so heavy to have to lug around. The problem with the infant seat, is he may have outgrown it. If he hasn't, then take that. If it gets damaged then so what. It might also be a lot easier to carry. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Britax, it's just a heavy car seat to move around (which is part of the reason why it's so safe).

Even though you did not buy a seat for your baby they will probably try to put you in a 3 row by yourself. If I were you I would take the seat with me to the door of the plane. If there is room on the plane then they may let you install it. With my children it was easier to use the carseat because they were use to it. If there is not, they can put it where they put strollers. Less likely to have any damage. I have never had a problem doing this with either strollers or carseats. Never any damage. Also you don't have to worry about it getting lost and being stuck at the airport with out a carseat!!!

We've traveled with ours many times. We actually just got thick black trash bags from Home Depot and wrapped a couple of those around it and checked it. In the airport my DH strapped it to the rolling suitcase and off we went.

If you use one of the car seat bags, the car seat should be perfectly fine - just think about the fact that it's supposed to protect your child in a car accident. If it could get damaged during travel, I can't fathom it would be safe in a car accident. We have traveled about twice a year with our kids since they were born and never had a problem with the car seats being damage- we even checked them when we had to buy a seat because of the hassle of hauling the car seat onto the plane. In the very off chance that the airlines lose your luggage they will loan you a car seat when you get to the other end AND you might check into just renting one if you are renting a car.

We have always flown with ours and never had any problems. We do usually buy an extra seat so we normally take it on the plane, but we have checked it a couple of times with no damage. We did buy a cheap fold up luggage cart (the metal things that fold up with wheels) to transport it around the airport which was very helpful.

I've traveled severeal times with my son's Britax car seat, with different airlines. The only one it got a little dirty was American, but never any other damage. Just make sure you tie up all the straps on the back of the seat, so they're not going everywhere (but if it's in a bag, that shouldn't be a problem). We've never put it in a protective bag except once, but that's b/c the airline provided plastic bags. It's a hassle to carry around, so make sure you take advantage of the carts at the airport.