Nuna - EXEC

We got a car seat cart off of Amazon and took our normal car seat with us. We've flown several times with the nuna exec which is huge and heavy and it's been fine.

Our seat is FAA approved too and we've never had an issue. Find the FAA label on the seat in advance, we've had the flight attendant ask to see the label on the seat. It's usually on the side or bottom. It doesn't fit through the scanner in security so they usually swab it and push on the padding. You have to carry it on the plane so a second person is necessary to carry it on. Definitely ask if one of you can board early to install it. I've never had a problem installing it (lift arm rests) in a plane yet and yeah they have to be in the window seat. I definitely feel a car seat is the safest for my kid on a plane and then we have it for our trip. I'm also really familiar with our car seat and confident in installing it in both planes and different cars.

the next car seat you would use is a convertible car seat. they do not attach to any strollers so you would just use the stroller seat you have and keep the car seat in the car. All infant car seats can be moved but once they outgrow them then you have to choose a convertible, preferably one with extended rear facing limits like the Nuna Rava or exec.

We have a Nuna exec at home but we're traveling for the first time with our new diono r3. You need to purchase straps but it can be carried like a backpack. It doesn't fit rear facing in economy on an airplane, but it works rear facing or front facing for cars and it's super easy to install. We like it for what it is. Our big guy fits in it with room to Grow

I bought a cheaper but very highly rated Chicco infant car seat so that we’d have the convenience but wouldn’t feel like we wasted our money if we only got like 6 months out of it. I got a pricier Nuna for our convertible seat since it should last for years. Our baby ended up being small and still fits in his infant seat at 10 months. We will probably switch before 12 months if he starts to look uncomfortable. You can get two bases for an infant seat to make it easier to transfer car to car. My husband is cheap and refused to do that, but he could transfer the base super quick since the Chicco is such an easy install. No regrets, we loved the convenience of buckling him inside (and we live in FL so it was more about heat/sun than cold!) and snapping him into the stroller for quick errands. We still used a bassinet for longer walks and loved that too.