Car seat question

[proud_canadian]

Dumb question as we've never travelled with our kids in car seats before. Do you rent them from a rental car place (do they even do this???) or can you fly with them? If you fly with them, do they get damaged/dirty?? Does it count as a piece of luggage? What about a backless booster?

 

[mamamac]

I would never ever rent a car seat. Most airlines do not count car seats as luggage. We always put ours in a car seat tote that you can find online or at BabiesRUs. We have flown several times and never had anything happen to our seats. If your child is really young then I would use it on the airplane if it is says that it is airplane approved. I don't believe booster seats are.

 

[nonzerosum]

I have rented twice out of absolute necessity and wouldn't do it again unless in a dire situation. They are completely filthy (once there was a spit up stain) and often are missing parts and can't be installed correctly. They are also very expensive to rent. Just put your own car seat in one of the giant plastic bags that the airlines usually supply and you will be much better off.

 

[casper_jj11]

I would never rent from a car rental agency as the car seats are generally not monitored (condition etc)

I wouldn't hesitate to rent from a baby equipment rental location that will have the seat at the airport upon arrival.

That said, if you purchase a seat for your little one and he/she fits in a regular car seat, you can bring it on the plane as long as its one of the ones that are approved by Transport Canada (or american equivalent I think). It'll state it on the car seat. A booster seat is not permitted to be used on the airplane. Neither is a rear facing car seat.

You can also check it as luggage but you're taking a risk that it will be damaged or lost. We do that. We pack our backless booster in our luggage in the box and if we need more luggage space upon our return, we have it as its own piece of luggage. We also check our car seats which we wrap really well in heavy see through plastic bags. Put the owner identification tag on the chest straps of the seat. If you're flying out on a Cdn carrier, car seats and boosters don't count as luggage.

They can also sky check them which means you carry them to the plane yourself and they're aren't in the regular luggage hold but they do go in the hold before take off. (We do this with our stroller.) You also need to carry them through the airport at your stop overs which is a royal pain. Best options for us are to check them and take the chance or rent from a baby rental agency at the destination. You'll hear a lot of different views though.

By the way, we check our car seats but use a CARES device on the airplane so the kiddos are safe but we don't have the hassle of the seats at stopovers.

 

[Kat&Dom]

I took a car seat with me on my past 2 trips to Disney - I checked it with my regular baggage. The lady at the check in counter told me that airlines are not allowed to charge for car seats or strollers as they are considered safety items so do not count against your baggage allowance.

I found that the car seat was always sitting waiting for me and that I would have to wait for my suitcase.

I believe that the cost of renting a car seat from a car rental agency runs around $25/day so it adds up really quickly but if you are an AMA member and rent your car through them, I believe one of the perks is that you do not have to pay anything to rent the car seat.

We are going to Disney in April and taking our own car seat again.

 

[jj0plin]

I'd never rent either, especially because you don't know if they've ever been in an accident before. You can either use the car seat on the plane or check it as luggage, which ever you prefer.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

Like others - we transport ours. And, from experience, I can tell you that the airlines do have back-ups available in case yours gets lost/delayed. They lost our seat on a recent trip and provided a lender until they delivered it to us. Like others have said, car seats and strollers are considered 'accessibility' items like wheelchairs and are transported at no cost.

My only added FYI - unless things have changed, you will not be able to use the resort baggage service if you bring a car seat. We had a rental car for a trip, but wanted to check our bags at the resort to save the hassle when we returned to the airport. They told us they couldn't handle the free baggage issue with the car seat and would have to charge us as though it was an extra bag. Don't understand why this is an issue, but we ended up having to check everything in ourselves at the airport.

 

[momofsamandeden]

We always bring ours directly to the gate(checked it with baggage once and never saw our Brittax again) and then check it. We have in the past been allowed to bring it on with us if the flight is not full and it was put in an overhead bin or closet. I always just put it in a plastic bag that the airline provides but I double bag it. I also make sure I have two spare bags on me just in case. I have used the car seat bags that you can buy but ours was lost with the brittax. I swear they knew it was a more expensive car seat from the cover