Just got back from my trip and we both survived!

For travel to/from the airport, I took Neen's advice and rented a seat on a shuttle van. We live an hour from the airport so I didn't think I'd get anything reasonably priced. However, it turns out for this particular company children under 3 ride for free (not sure if that is typical or not). This means it was actually cheaper to take the shuttle van than to park in the cheapest parking lot at the airport.

I bought both a backpack carrier for the car seat and the Traveling Toddler so I could test them out ahead of time. Eventually, I just decided to use the Traveling Toddler. The car seat bag wasn't compact enough to be able to fold up into a reasonable size when I didn't want to use it. My carry-on suitcase has both wheels and the ability to convert to a backpack. In addition, it has a little backpack that can unzip from the main suitcase.

Until I passed security, I strapped my car seat to the suitcase using the Traveling Toddler strap which uses your car seat's LATCH straps, put the straps of the little backpack around the suitcase handle, and carried my baby on my back. Using this configuration, I was able to roll my carry-on luggage with one hand and my large checked bag with the other. Also, the TSA didn't require me to take my baby out of the carrier going through security which was one less thing to juggle. Once through security, I put my baby in the car seat and, using the suitcase wheels, was able to wheel him around using it like an ad hoc stroller. This was particularly useful for restroom visits.

Boarding and disembarking from the plane was the hardest part. I unhooked the car seat from the suitcase and instead zipped on the little backpack to the suitcase. I then converted the suitcase to backpack mode and put it on my back. The Beco carrier I was using allows both back and front carrying so I switched my baby to the front carrying mode and then carried the car seat in my arms. I had tested this all before leaving our house so I knew I could do it but I was carrying about 80lbs and even though it was for a relatively short distance that might not work for everyone. If I couldn't have carried everything, I'm sure the flight attendants would have helped out but this seemed faster and more efficient to me.

Additional thoughts:

• The way the Traveling Toddler attaches to your suitcase means you have to unstrap the whole thing to be able to get anything out of the suitcase. Because of this, I had everything I needed before boarding the plane, such as my laptop and diaper supplies, in the little backpack.
• In order to use the Traveling Toddler, your suitcase needs to be fairly full otherwise the straps don't tighten enough. This wasn't a problem in real life but when testing it, I had to fill the suitcase before it would work.
• My carry-on suitcase, minus the backpack part, is just small enough to fit under the airplane seat. The little backpack on its own isn't big enough to contain everything one might need for a flight so it was essential I had easy access to the suitcase. I put my little backpack in front of my baby's seat and the suitcase in front of mine.
• I have a Britax Boulevard car seat which is officially approved for air travel (which the flight attendant did check). You are suppose to recline it when in rear-facing mode. However, on the plane I was on, a Frontier Airbus A319, there isn't enough room to recline it in the rear-facing position. In fact, it barely fits fully upright in the seat.