Car Seats and flying

[bsusanmb]

We are going to WDW in Oct as a family - with 3 babies under 2. Can we bring our own car seats when we fly? Does the airline count them as luggage? Should we box them so they aren't damaged? How about our strollers? Do those count as luggage? I see people taking their strollers down the skyway and leaving them as they get on the plane. Is this what we do? Thanks to anyone who can help,

 

[bdklein]

Confused? How old are the babies?
Babies aren't under 2. Babies are judged as X months old.
Where are these kids expected to sit during the flight?

Don't worry about the strollers-just take them down the jetway. They will store them during the flight, and bring them back to the jetway after the flight has reached the gate.

 

[justhat]

I personally would bring the carseats on board for the under 2s to sit in during the flight. They'll be much safer than holding them as lap children, plus you won't have to worry about the carseats getting damaged if you check them. Of course then you have to buy seats for the under 2s, but many airlines will sell you a seat for an under 2 at 50% of the cheapest adult price. You have to call the airline though and specify this, you can't do it online, and sometimes you have to ask more than once as some operators don't always know that there is an infant fare.

They strollers I would leave at the door to the plane and then they'll check them for you and have them waiting when you get off the plane (well, maybe not waiting for you, you might wait for the stroller depending on how fast you get off, but the stroller will meet you at the plane door at any rate).

 

[jekjones1558]

Not all of the toddler type seats are airplane approved (don't know about infant ones). You will need to check for a label on the seat. Maybe not all airlines are fussy about this, but ours HAVE been checked by the airline to see whether they carry the airline approved label.

 

[bsusanmb]

By babies I mean 3 mo, 12 mo, 17 mo. All young enough not to purchase seats. We are going to rent cars and don't want to rent car seats in Orlando

 

[CarolA]

How many adults???? The rule is ONE baby per lap. So if it's just two adults you need to buy at least one seat. (And yes, I was on a plane with a woman who had twins... She tried to get TOTAL strangers to hold one of her babies, the FA put a stop to that!)

To be honest, these kids are MUCH MUCH safer in thier car seat which means you will have to buy them a seat.

 

[justhat]

We flew with my daughter at all of those ages and have always purchased her a seat. Yes, they're young enough to fly free, but I find it so much easier to have my kid sitting in her carseat in her own seat for the whole flight. Plus the seat is with me when I arrive-I don't have to worry about it getting lost or sent on another flight or whatever, or damaged which is a big concern to me after my stroller broke into pieces. If they handle the stroller like that, how do they handle carseats?

 

[NotUrsula]

Also be aware that if you have three lap babies, each of them must sit in a different row/section. That is, you can sit two in the same row, but there must be an aisle separating them. This is because there must be an oxygen mask for every person on board, and there is only one spare mask per row section. If you are holding a baby, you cannot share a contiguous bloc of seats with anyone else who is holding a baby, whether that person is in your party or not.

If you buy seats for them and use carseats, you have to place the carseats in order of size from largest to smallest, working out from the window position. However, you have to have an adult on the aisle, so in a row of three, you can put two carseats in the window and center positions. Carseats also may not be used in the exit rows (of course), or in the rows directly in front of or behind the exit rows. You usually cannot use them in bulkhead seats, either, because strapping them in almost always requires lifting at least one armrest.

Also, if you do not use the carseats on board the aircraft, you can gate-check them, but be sure to ask at the ticket counter for a plastic bag to put them in--the hold is a greasy place, and they often don't have the plastic bags at the gate counter.

 

[justhat]

The only thing I'd add to NotUrsula's very informative post (as usual!) is that we have used both infant and toddler carseats in bulkhead seats on many airlines. The infant seat was hard to get in securely in the bulkhead on an older Southwest plane, but other than that we haven't had any trouble. We've flown with the Graco Snugride and Britax Roundabout.

 

[bdklein]

You think you are going to hold a 1 year old and a 17-month old in you lap for a flight? Good luck, but I see way to much squirming. Also, what happens if you hit some turbulence?

It may be too late, but I'd consider buying 2 or 3 seats real fast.

 

[bsusanmb]

Ok, my question was not should I buy a seat for the children. There are 8 adults and 3 children. My DD and SIL adopted one of these little ones from Russia and flew from Siberia to Philadelphia - 12 hours - and he would not sit in his $1500 seat. Of course this is a different situation. He just clung to his mommy and wouldn't go to anyone else. This is a 2 hour flight to Orlando, and each child has 2 parents and grandparents along. Thanks for the information about how the seating is. That was very informative so that we know how to choose our seats. I have flown with my children years ago before we had car seats that were safe and the only problem was travelling with a nearly 2 year old and the terrible 2's. It wasn't pleasant. I am sure that my DD's will purchase seats for their babies, but don't know about DDIL. I won't go any farther with that....

 

[justhat]

I don't think people realized, at least I know I didn't, that you didn't want to know about bringing the seats on the plane. You asked if you could bring your own when flying so I assumed you meant "can I use it on the plane, if not, can I check it?"

 

[grimley1968]

Okay, I'm a little confused by the OP, but I'll try to provide answers I know. Yes, you can bring your own carseats, and they do not count as checked luggage or carryons, provided they go into a paid-for seat. In your first post, you mention that your kids are all young enough not to require a paid ticket. However, in order to use their carseats, they must take up a seat, and the airlines will charge you for that seat. So your choices are:

- Don't pay for tickets for the kids, and let the adults in your party keep them in their laps. You would then need to check your carseats like luggage, if you wished to bring them along. As other posters have mentioned, this will require breaking up your party throughout the plane to comply with the need for one oxygen mask per passenger.

or

- Pay for tickets for the kids (some airlines offer reduced pricing for kids). This way you can keep them all nearby (probably), they each have their own seat, and you can strap their carseats comfortably into the airline seat, without them being considered carry-on luggage.

Since I usually fly SWA, and we can get dirt-cheap pricing to Orlando from Louisville or Nashville, I usually get tickets for my toddler, and bring along her carseat. Fortunately, my 2 girls are 4 years apart, so only one has needed a carseat at a time when traveling by air. I've never had to bring 2 carseats on a plane (though I still have a booster seat for my oldest in our car).

As for strollers, yes, you can wheel them down the jetway to the plane entrance, fold them up, then FA's will store them for you during the flight, and put them back on the jetway at the destination.

 

[beattyfamily]

We are going to WDW in Oct as a family - with 3 babies under 2. Can we bring our own car seats when we fly? Does the airline count them as luggage? Should we box them so they aren't damaged? How about our strollers? Do those count as luggage? I see people taking their strollers down the skyway and leaving them as they get on the plane. Is this what we do? Thanks to anyone who can help,

If you are bringing them for a rental car and don't want them for the flight, then what I would do is buy a carseat bag at Babies R Us and check them with your luggage. Then you don't have to carry them around the airport. That's what we do.

If you check your carseats with the rest of your luggage, then it will count toward your checked luggage limit, which is 2 per person, including children. The stroller, if you gate check it, will not count as a carry on.

Hope this helps.

 

[NotUrsula]

Note that if you gate-check your carseats, they usually will NOT count toward your checked baggage allowance. Almost all US domestic airlines allow carseats to be gate-checked, simply because people take them to the gate meaning to use them onboard, then sometimes find out that they can't, either because the seat is not certified, or if an empty passenger seat is not available.

Domestic airlines will allow you to use a carseat free in an available empty seat if you can get your own seat assignments arranged in a way that accomodates it. They will *not* force passengers to move to accomodate it, however, so if there is nothing left but middles and you are sitting on the aisle in row 2, don't expect it to work out unless the window passenger agrees to take your aisle. Most people have better luck with this if they are sitting in the back rows of the plane, though these days planes are flying so full that free carseat use is going the way of the dodo bird.

I personally always gate-checked our booster seats because I didn't like the idea of them going through the bag rooms and possibly ending up under several tons of shifting luggage in the hold. (That scene in Toy Story II isn't all that far off reality.) It is an especially good idea to gate-check them if you are having to make a connection, because it eliminates the possibility that the seat might end up on a different flight than you are on.