Flying with a CarSeat

[cgajdzisz]

We are flying on Continental in August and bringing my DD's carseat. Do they provide a bag at check in for it or do I have to prepare it ahead of time? She will be 12 months so we are not purchasing a seat for her. She will sit on my lap but we do want to make sure we have a car seat for the rental car.

 

[IowaGirl]

We flew Air Tran, but we took our son's car seat (he's 39 lbs) so it's a large one. The only thing we had to do was put a tag on it with our name and secure all of the straps, and we checked it with our suitcases.

DH was brilliant and brought a bungee cords with us, so when we got to Orlando, he bungeed all of our luggage together, and bungeeed the car seat to the luggage. Worked great to not have to haul the car seat through an airport, or when we checked our rental car in we did not need help with our luggage.

If in doubt, or you would be worried about your car-seat condition, then call the airline, or put it into like a canvas laundry bag.

 

[3kidsdisney]

We are traveling to disney also and need to take 3 car seats, we will be putting then in cavas bags also. I saw online at babiesrus and the baby center several diiferent ones. They were around $15.00. We are also taking a double stroller and were told by the airlines that we could take it right to the gate, check with your airline. Good luck, Ann

 

[stacy6552]

Please please do not fly with your child on your lap, you would never drive that way.

That being said, haul your carseat all the way to the gate, because if the plane is not full, they will let you strap your baby into it in a seat. the right start sells a tote bag that make the trip from the car to the plane much easier, but dont check it. if there is no room, you can gate check it.

 

[disneymom3]

Personally, I would never check a carseat. Have you seen the way they toss the luggage around or the way it comes barrelling down some of those ramps in the baggage terminals? To me that is the same kind of impact as if it were in an accident, and you aren't supposed to use them after an accident.

Continental will sell you a seat at half price for a baby under two. I always think it's worth the $. They have their own space and are less squirmy--I have other reasons too, but won't go there on this thread. At the most, I would gate check it, but after what my double stroller looked like when Continental was done gate checking it, I'm not too sure about that either.

 

[skeezixspud]

Carseat satchels are available from BRUS and similar stores for a little over $20; RightStart's is more expensive. As long as the seats are of a similar shape, it should be possible to nest 3 of them in one satchel, and that will make carrying them on your back much easier.

If you want to check your seat, the airlines will give you a plastic bag for it, but I wouldn't trust that to come through unscathed.
Most of those I've seen come out to the carousel with rips in the plastic bags; the bag-handling machinery can catch on the upholstery and rip it if it is not protected. I don't worry about impact, because I pad my seat inside our satchel. DS prefers to sleep with a cotton blanket, so I wrap one around the seat when I check it. Also, any stuffed animals we buy go in for the return trip as well.

I would personally NEVER fly with a young child without securing him in a carseat. We did it once when DS was 13 mos, when in an emergency, we had to take the last two available seats on a flight. I SWORE I would never do it again. Once was one time too many.

 

[Chance's Mom]

Rental Car companies can usually provide a car seat with prior notice. One less thing to carry.
I only flew once with my DS not is a car seat. It wore me out to hold him and it was only a short hour flight from Columbus, O to Chicago. I felt totally mauled when I got off the plane. Just my 2 cents.

 

[SillyGirl]

When ds was 4 months old we flew from Portland Oregon to Kansas City with him on my lap. He nursed and slept most of the flight, but boy were my arms tired after all that. That being said we didn't bring a car seat, we rented one from the rental car agency and I was amazed at how inadequate it was. It was one of those plastic jobs that they used to sell in the early 80's. I would have felt much better had we brought our own car seat, even if we had to lug it through the airport.

We also took a trip with ds when he was 2 and he had his own seat and was in the car seat on the plane. This was MUCH easier and I felt a lot more safe and my arms weren't nearly as tired. If you're worried about lugging it around the airport just rent one of those $2 carts and pile everything on it.

Voila!

 

[IowaGirl]

I am too cheap to get a car seat from the rental company--I thought they would be no additional charge, but actually it would have added yet another daily fee.

When we pulled out out of the parking lot, I saw a whole row of car seats by the booth to get out of the parking ramp. Yuck, they did not look good. Maybe they were left-behinds, but I would only trust my own. You never know....

 

[tjmw2727]

If you want to check your seat you must have it ready at check in. BRU sells a great bag for checking or carrying a carseat, it has handles like a backpack.

I would try to gate check the seat in case there is an extra seat for your child. Bring the seat with you to the gate when boarding, if a seat is available then you can use the seat on the airplane. If not - a gate check can be done, it gets tagged and put into the belly of the plane last, and out first.

You can also look into reduced fares for children under 2 if you reconsider.
TJ