WAYB - Pico™ Portable Car Seat

We have the WayB Pico for my child who is about the same size as your 3.5 year old. It's $$ but it folds up really small and we're a carry-on only family so we always have enough luggage allotment to bring it on board. It fits in the overhead!

Yess!! We have it too. Also have the backpack and it fits everything! We put the carseat when flying and take off, take it off mid flight when our toddler (3yrs) needs to sleep, etc. Its been the best. We have traveled to 3 countries with it, set it up on taxis etc. The best.

This seat doesn’t rear face and isn’t safe for kids under age 2.

Our travel car seat is a wayb picco which has a backpack it pops into so I just wear the backpack when out and about. It has extra space to store snacks, extra underwear, clothes and water.

Yep very easy. Latch in Ubers takes a minute tops, TSA approved sticker on it supports airline belt and takes a minute or two tops to install with the belt. Definitely recommended if you travel a lot like we do.

We have it too but purchased it at 20% off. We don't use it in Europe (whatever the tour provides) but we got it for elsewhere. I used it for a week in India and we'll probably use it domestic now since we have two kids to in order to reduce bulk. 

In case you are like me and look for advice or reviews on Reddit for things - I hope I can help other parents looking for options of travel car seats - do not buy the WAYB Pico full price. And be prepared to get one that was manufactured 2 years ago if you do. I ordered a WAYB Pico travel car seat full price ($400 USD) at the end of Jan 2025. They sent me a car seat that was manufactured in 2023. When I emailed to say how unacceptable this was, they responded that “Due to manufacturing and shipping lead times, inventory may be 9-12+ months past its date of manufacture when you receive it.” Of course I don’t expect a car seat manufactured yesterday; but typically car seats that have been manufactured OVER A YEAR ago are discounted and not full price. There’s no disclosure about this on their website, and the response is basically “too bad so sad”. So - for a 7 year life of the car seat, you may get a car seat that already has lost 1/4 or 1/5 of its life expectancy before you even get it. Also - despite babying this extremely overpriced car seat we had a tear in the very very delicate mesh fabric on the headrest after 4 short Uber rides (and day checking it in lockers in WDW). Do not recommend - I just want to warn any other parents like me who may be looking for a good travel seat how unethical and shady this company is. I feel very duped, like - I get that Amazon and other discount sellers may have older unused car seats that they sell for a discount - but this was a full price car seat that shouldn’t be more than a couple months past manufacture date. Unacceptable.

If I’d received one that wasn’t manufactured 2 years ago, I’d probably be a lot happier. I don’t think full priced car seats should be sold that were manufactured in 2023 as a general business practice, however.

Yah this is my first and I was planning to squeeze another use of it ideally for another child since I travel quite a lot. The fact the company responded to me and is fine with selling these seats from two years ago I just think is deceptive, functionally the seat is fine but for the price I wanted to let other parents know they may have a seat with 1/4 of the life expectancy gone before they get it!

Hello! I’m a Child Passenger Safety Technician. She’ll outgrow WayB Pico by seated shoulder height first, since the harness height is only 15.5 inches. To measure seated shoulder height: have the child sit with their legs crossed, criss cross applesauce style against a wall. With a pencil, mark where the top of their shoulder meets the wall. If you measure floor to the mark you now have your child’s torso height. Thanks the only travel seat that folds right now. You could also look at Evenflo Maestro, it’s lightweight (9lbs) and its harness height goes up to 18.5 inches. Either way, keep in mind that seatbelts don’t lock in Europe so you’ll either need to verify the vehicle you’ll be using has ISOFIX (European name for LATCH) or contact the manufacturer for a seatbelt locking clip. What airline will you be traveling on, is it a US airline that will let you use the seat on the plane?

I always bring car seats for the kids. Right now it’s the WAYB Pico. Totally worth it.

We love our WAYB Pico. I fly solo with my 3.5y/o at least once a month, and the fact that it weighs only 8lbs and is easy to haul along with a purse and backpack is an absolute game changer! It’s rated for up to 50 lbs.

take a look at the wayb pico seat. i think that might be a good option for you. it doesnt take up a lot of room so the baby can play in the seat if they need to. we use it sometimes when travelling and need a car seat at our destination

If you can afford it, Pico Wayb chair (grandparents thankfully chipped in for it Foldable with the backpack, super light we've used it on several trips and makes it sooo easy also can use it ON the plane for safer belting for young ones https://wayb.com/products/pico-car-seat?msclkid=30dfbbfc9c691e84b367dd743b017689&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search%20%7C%20Brand&utm_term=pico%20car%20seat&utm_content=PICO

I thought about that, but the Ride Safer vests are still not FAA approved so flight attendants will not allow them, and their website states that they’re geared towards children that are already in booster seats but can be used for younger children if the alternative is not having anything at all (such as in a taxi). Being usable for both the plane and the car was important to us, so the final decision came down to that. We really love our Pico, the kids are familiar with it since we keep one installed in our second car, and we could afford two more, so we went ahead and bought them!

That’s why I got the WayB Pico. They are NOT heavy or bulky, and I can carry all 3 without it being too much of a pain!

Maybe the ride safer travel vest? It's preferred (on the car seat groups) that kiddos are older, but if your child is within the weight limits that might be something you can consider the wayb pico is also an option. Much pricier but also quite portable. The cheapest is the cosco scenera next, but your kids might grow out of it quickly, and it's bulky. It is light though, so if strapping it to the stroller or luggage is an option maybe that would work. You could also book airport transfer through the cruise line? Then you take the bus, and I'm assuming if you're okay not putting your kid in a car seat on the plane you'd also be okay not putting them in a car seat on a tour bus, though of course it's all up to parental discretion. When I traveled with my first at 15m and again at 18m, we did the cosco car seat. When we traveled with both of them at 2.5y and 10m, we did the tour bus (we did bring the cosco and a ride safer but did not end up using them as the cosco could not physically be installed on the bus).

At similar ages we used a wayb pico for the older kid, baby on lap (for free under age 2) on the plane, gate checked the baby seat in a bag to protect it.

We have a WayB Pico. We travel often and that has been a great investment. It is light weight and folds really compact. It is also really great for kids under 40# to use on the airplane. We are just about to outgrow it, so we have opted for the Diono Monterey 6. It is a foldable booster which can fold smaller than a carryon bag and can go in the overhead bin on the plane. Those are the two things that we do!

Great tips! Couple I’d like to add: - We’ve traveled with the slumberpod which is essentially a black out tent that goes over the pack and play or crib. It’s been amazing since it gives our toddler the same dark dark sleeping environment she’s used to at home. - The Wayb Pico is small enough to pack into a carry on sized bag, which we’ve done for shorter trips. Saves you the hassle of baggage claim, don’t have to buy their carrying case, and it’s easier to schlep around in a bag that you already have than on its own. - We just did a couple of weeks in Europe, and our basic plan for the day was breakfast in the hotel/Airbnb, one big touristy thing, lunch, then nap. After naptime, it was go find a playground, let our toddler play for a while as we sat in a park taking it all in, and then dinner. Letting her have some dedicated playtime every day made it easier to get her to slog through a museum in the morning, knowing a park was coming in the afternoon. - For long haul flights, something like the bubba board was a game changer. This basically attaches to the bottom of the seat and the tray table and gives her a larger area to sleep or play on.

We didn’t get the pico until after she was past the age where we’d expect her to sleep in a car seat. I agree that it’s probably not a great position to have a kid nap/sleep, but that’s one of the reasons we got the bubba board. That way we could have her laying down with the seatbelt around her and she could sleep as normally as possible on the flight.

Bring all their diapers, lotions, shampoos, etc. the ship store won't have anything that you want lol. For travel car seat, I use the WayB.

We bring a Way-B Pico on the plane now. It’s foldable and counts as her personal item since it fits under the seat. Until she was big enough, we brought a Cosco Scenera Next and installed it for her on the plane.

When we went overseas a couple years ago we gate checked our car seat in a travel car seat bag. This year we bought a wayb pico (it was pretty expensive) but it’s super light and folds down small enough to carry. It’s approved for planes and cars

I have a pico that folds fairly flat, I would put it in the sack under the stroller

I have done it but I have also not done it. It just depends on the situation. These days for my nearly 5yo we travel with the wayb pico and I don’t put her in it on the plane. Before she could forward face I normally brought her car seat on the plane because I didn’t trust checking it. Now with 2 kids it’s different. With my baby I will try to bring his seat on the plane but have had instances where it just didn’t work out and we have gate checked it. If I’m traveling solo with both kids I try to bring his car seat so I can have my hands free on the plane.

For car seats once your child is a bit bigger you can use a way b pico seat or similar brand. https://wayb.com/products/pico-car-seat They take up much less room than a traditional car seat. You can also rent baby items at your location using baby quip. For a stroller I use the gb pockit which fits into a small backpack. For more tips check out the FB page traveling with babies and toddlers. Lots of great advice over there.

We use the WAYB carseat now for our 2 year old. It is incredible for easy installation. That being said, it is not rear facing, so it would be illegal to use before 2 years old in many states. It is quite expensive, but so worth it if you travel a lot once kiddo is older.

If you’re going to be using it more and or having more kids, the WAYB is amazing. But it is pricey. I absolutely love it though

We borrowed the wayb pico from a friend for a recent trip and it was great. If we needed it multiple times a year I would consider it a worthwhile investment but most of our traveling is by car.

We use the Wayb Pico. Found it on Marketplace for less than half original price. It’s lightweight and easy to lug around.

We bought our kids PICOs on a US trip and use them for travel only. They’re expensive, so depends on how often you fly. The evenflo Sonus is a larger convertible that is lightweight like the scenera

So far I have only taken a lap infant on the plane so far, but I have a Wayb Pico car seat that is airplane and car certified and only 7 lbs that I will use when I end up taken my 3 year old on the plane.

We have the Pico for travel and absolutely love it. I have single-handedly installed it in cars using both the latches and a seatbelt (including needing to use a locking clip abroad) and have always found it incredibly easy. It usually takes me somewhere between 2-8 minutes to install depending on the car and whether I need to put the locking clip on). I also found it easy to install on airplanes.

WayB Pico is our travel car seat. compact and light. can fit in a backpack that we carry on board the flights with us. Once u get the hang of it you can set it up and remove it from any car in 1 minute. It’s been great for us whether we rent a car or uber around

Sadly it is really expensive. There was no way I could stomach getting it at full price especially knowing that it would ONLY be used for travel? The calculation of cost-per-use made my head spin. so I kept my eye on the sales haha. I tell my friends that are looking to buying a WayB to just buy it when it’s on sale bc it’s SELDOM that they will knock down the price—do not wait until you need it, and then get saddled with paying $400 😵‍💫😵‍💫. I think I got mine for $100 off bc of the sale price, and then also got a knock off carrying backpack on Amazon for a fraction of the price of the branded one.

We just got a WayB as well. My partner has a small car so we could justify the cost since we will use it for more than just traveling. It was super easy to travel with and to install. For our five year old we just used a backless booster since he is over 40lbs (just barely). We have also rented in the past and they had a Cosco Scenera for us to use for our younger child but you could tell it had been well used in the past.

We have brought the car seat on the plane and nose checked it. Honestly, I thought nose checking it was easier. It was not easy to carry the car seat on and off the plane and try and put it into the seat. The flight attendants were super helpful when we brought it on, so that was nice. We ended up buying a little carrier thing for the car seat that he can sit in while we wheel him around in the car seat. It made travel so much easier. I would look into one of those. If you happen to have some ‘spare’ change, I would look into the WAYB car seat. It’s light and easy to travel with (or so it seems) but dang is it expensive. We have probably traveled enough to justify the cost, but at the time it was too much money.

We recently flew with our 18 month old and 5 year old with a Safety 1st Jive and WayB Pico. 18 month old used the Safety 1st Jive on the plane and in the car at our destination. My older kid used it in the past too. It’s light enough that I can put my arm through the straps in the back and just carry it through the airport, though figuring out a way to attach it to wheeled luggage would be nice. 5 year old sat in the plane seat and we stored the WayB up in the overhead bin during the flight (I don’t trust checking car seats). It fit in the bottom of our stroller when getting through the airport. It folds pretty small and is light. It’s pricey but we figured worth it for traveling with 2 kids since our younger one can eventually use it too. You may also want to check this out: https://safeintheseat.com/13-best-car-seats-for-airplane-travel/ Good luck and safe travels!

The pico travel car seat is amazing! It folds up and is super easy to bring on planes and for rentals and you can adjust it based on what child is using it, not a parent but a teacher and so many people I know use it!

Are you planning on using the seat on an airplane? If you are, I would skip the finale--the buckle of the airplane lap belt will be a lump behind kid's back. I would get the graco tranzitions (happens to have a hollow right where the buckle ends up), or maybe the contender (which is a convertible seat with a closed belt path), esp if you're thinking about having more kids and could use the rear facing capability sometime in the future). The contender will put your kid's legs in the most tempting seat-kicking position, though. If your kid will not sit in the car seat on the plane, I would consider the pico (because you can put it in the overhead bin and avoid checking it), but if your kid is tall I would probably not, since it's not going to last as long as other seats. My first kid peacefully sat in a car seat on the airplane, we used the tranzitions for him at this age.

Yes! We bought a WayB for travelling and love it! You could also try the CARES harness. I watched a video of a plane emergency landing simulation with crash test dummies. My littles will always be 5 point harnessed during take off and landing and turbulence.

We are at the young toddler stage now, just over 13 months or so. Do you foresee air travel from age 1-4? Add a super lightweight AIRPLANE FRIENDLY convertible car seat to your registry. The infant bucket seat or Doona only work for the first year. After that you’ll 100% need a travel car seat if you fly anyplace where you need a car rental. It has to be a light one that you’ll literally carry through the airport. None sane person ever travels with their regular heavy car seat. Cosco Scenera Next and Maxi Cosi Romi will fit great til maybe age 2. The Safety 1st Jive, Graco Contender Slim, or Wayb Pico work after that.

We used a wayb car seat once my son was big enough. It folds flat enough that we were able to pack it in our checked luggage and just use it at our destination. Before that we always bought him a seat and used his car seat on the plane.

Personally, we use the Pico seat by WAYB it’s specifically a travel car seat and it has a backpack as well.

We invested in a WAYB Pico Seat. It’s airplane friendly and has a backpack

I missed the age mentioned in OPs post. It’s a decent seat for bigger tots.

It is physically impossible to keep your grip on a lap child in turbulence like the kind some flights have experienced lately. If you're looking for an FAA-approved seat (but not approved in the UK), look into the Cosco Scenera Next. It's lightweight but allows a kiddo to recline. Once your son hits 2, I absolutely recommend the Wayb Pico for travel within the US, either by plane or by car. It isn't rated for UK use, but it is FAA-approved. It's a seriously sturdy aluminum frame that folds (the seat folds up flush against the back). We just hang it from our stroller handle with a big carabiner and we're off for an adventure.

Done the Hawaii trip from the east coast with a baby/toddler/pre-schooler a few times and would recommend going with a lighter seat, one that’s collapsible like the Wayb pico (what we use now), or just skipping one altogether and using shuttles/taxis with car seats or renting one if renting a car. Our last trip, he was fine in the seat going there until we were taxied for over an hour waiting for a gate. He would not use the car seat going home, so it was a godsend being able to stow it in the overhead.

We got it once our little one turned 2 and needed his own seat on the plane. It's definitely been worth it for us because we also use it as our spare car seat if the grandparents drive somewhere with our son. Considering where we've traveled and how often since getting it, I'd still say it was worth the investment. If solely using it for travel, I'd say its overkill for that single purpose unless you travel more than 2 times a year. If you travel at least 3-4 times per year I believe it's worth it because: 1) its nice having piece of mind that you can stow it in the overhead and not worry about it getting damaged while gate checked or checked at the counter, 2) you don't have to worry whether an uber, taxi, or shuttle has a car seat available when you land or need to head to the airport, 3) you know it will fit and you can still seat two others in the backseat no matter what car shows up (in Canada a taxi was a tiny Fiat and that we crammed 4 of us, a stroller, 2 duffels, 1 carry-on, and 3 backpacks into), and 4) it's super light to carry in backpack they sell (the standard one that it comes with is pretty flimsy and has 0 padding). The main downsides are that it doesn't have a cupholder (the cup holder attachment they sell sucks since the seat itself is so low), the crotch buckle placement is really shallow (he's still good at 4, but not sure if he can use this at 5 - hopefully we can do the mifold comfort booster by then), and it's not really reclined when installed so not so great for napping in what looks like a comfortable position (he's napped plenty of times in the pico though and a plus is that since it's mainly mesh he doesn't wake up all sweaty).

We went with Wayb Pico.