bringing car seats on delta

[jenhclec]

Hi everyone,

I am traveling with 2 kids, DS4 and DS1, in sept. on Delta. I plan to bring a booster for DS4 and a child car seat for DS1. So my questions are:

1) can I bring the booster onto the plane for DS4 to sit on?
2) If I get the child seat gate checked, does Delta have a bag for me to put the seat in? or I have to bring my own? I checked the price of the car seat bags online, and the good ones are almost expensive as renting a car seat there. There are cheaper ones in babiesrus for less than $20, will they do? I just want the seat to survive this trip.

TIA!

 

[Gracie09]

Booster seats are not allowed to be used on planes. The point is to bring you child up to the appropriate height to use a shoulder belt. Since airplanes don't have them you can't use the booster. If it is a low back you can bring it on board (plan on it being counted as a carry on) and store it in the overhead. I'm not much help with the car seat. We always purchase a seat for our kids and use their car seat on the plane. You do have to provide your own bag. I would gate check over checking at the counter. I would never trust a rental car seat.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

No, they won't have a bag for the car seat. If you want it bagged you will need to bring the bag too

 

[amym2]

I assume the 1yo will be a lap baby? You can check the car seat and it won't count against your luggage allowance. That's much easier than lugging it through the airport and security, although if you do take it with you and you happen to have an empty seat next to you, you'll be allowed to use it. We just used a clear garbage bag when we checked ours. Or the cheaper bags are fine. I'd definitely check the booster since there's no way it can be used on the plane.

 

[jodifla]

We have a duffle bag that we always packed with my son's clothes, and used that for his booster seat. We tended to gate check our infant seat, and often was able to use it on the plane as they gave us an extra seat for our under 2 (this was a while ago).

 

[wdwrich]

On one of our trips, we had our then 6 month old granddaughter along. I was able to get great airfares on Delta at the time, so I bought her a seat. At the gate, the Delta agent accompanied me onto the plane before boarding started in order to install the car seat ahead of time. If you go this route, just note that the car seat has to marked as airline-approved.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I assume the 1yo will be a lap baby? You can check the car seat and it won't count against your luggage allowance. That's much easier than lugging it through the airport and security, although if you do take it with you and you happen to have an empty seat next to you, you'll be allowed to use it. We just used a clear garbage bag when we checked ours. Or the cheaper bags are fine. I'd definitely check the booster since there's no way it can be used on the plane.

While you MIGHT get lucky and find an empty seat next to you as someone who flies on the average 6 flights a month don't get your hopes up. I cannot recall the last flight I was on where EVERY seat was not taken. Airlines have adjusted capacity to meet demand pretty well.