car seats for infants!

[lexie32]

We are either very brave or very stupid and taking our ds 11 months in sept, do we take our oun car seat and put it in the hold or hire one from dollar when we get there. I have asked this on the families thread but american airlines allow you to use them on the plane( much better idea) So i am wondering what experiences other UK based people have had?

( We are flying with TCD)

Thanks in advance Alex

 

[Clare D]

Hi
Our DS had just turned 2 when we flew last December and I had pre booked our car seat with Dollar. Be warned you get no help carrying it from the Dollar desk inside the airport to the car park so make sure that it can fit on top of your luggage on the trolley.
It did take DH about half an hour to fix it and from memory they were Britax seats. Our friends DD was about 15 months when we went and they hired seats also. Neither os us had problems.

 

[kevin harrison]

We hired a 7 seater last time and it had pre fitted baby seats actually in the seats. All this after carting our daughter's seat across the Atlantic!! Maybe this could help.

 

[Aceman88888]

We are either very brave or very stupid and taking our ds 11 months in sept, do we take our oun car seat and put it in the hold or hire one from dollar when we get there. I have asked this on the families thread but american airlines allow you to use them on the plane( much better idea) So i am wondering what experiences other UK based people have had?

( We are flying with the dreaded TCD)

Thanks in advance Alex

We are flying TCD on 18th September and have a seat booked for our 22 month old. When I booked the seat, TCD confirmed that I could take the car-seat on board and use it with him as he can be strapped in easily. He's a little wriggler and would be out of the standard air seatbelt in a flash.

I am going to take a pre addressed sack with us just in case to the airport in case we come up against a petulant check in assistant. I seem to remember in 2003 some people were using them on the flight so hope all will be ok

Just one point to consider. Hiring a car seat from Dollar for 2 weeks was almost as much as upgrading our infant to his own seat. Easy decision really!

 

[shellbell]

We had a prehired car seat with Dollar through Virgin. The rental guys brought the seat to the car also fitted it for us The seat was also very clean. You have to be careful ifyou were to take your own car seat with you. Alot of our car seats dont meet the US safety regularitys. It all has to do with the way the seats fit into the cars. Not all car seats fit in all cars, it may be worth checking the seat you have will fit the car your going to hire when over there.

Michelle

 

[lexie32]

Hi Aceman,
what sort of seat do you have? We have also booked our ds a seat as the thought of him on our laps for 8 hours was hell! (hence going with TCD rather than virgin) I asked when booking and they said it was ok, but i can't see it fitting (and this will restrict changing room as i can't imagine TCD having changing tables in the toilets)
I am getting really nervous, what were we thinking!!

All i can do is apologise to all the people on the TCD branded flight on the 15th Sept leaving from Gatwick, I will be the harrased mum trying to entertain an 11 month old for 8 hours
(but i'm still excited, sorry for the rambling i'm on my third glass of wine! Bad mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

[Aceman88888]

We have got a lightweight styrene based seat with a full 5 point harness built in

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/s...atalogId=3801&productId=158777&clickfrom=name

TCD didnt ask what type it was on the phone but in 2003 there were several families with similar seats in use on our plane. Even if we have to bag it on checkin and put it in the hold, anything is better than the grubby non covered seats which we have been forced to rent from Dollar in the past.

We reguarly do 2/3 hour car trips with this seat and a combination of this, some toys, portable DVD player and some toddler friendly sedative should do the trick!

 

[Celestine]

If your child is under 12 months they must be in a rear facing seat. I'm informed by US friends that new cars have some sort of anchorage that these seats attach to, and as rental cars tend to be new I guess this will be the case & therefore you should get the seat that matches. After that age they still need to be restrained, but can be forward facing. THe rental seats were fine until DD reached 4 (& therefore was still legally required to be in one) when really it was a bit tight around the behind & we wished we'd bought ours from home. At 5, they are no longer required to be in a seat & the Americans looked rather bemused when we asked about a booster seat & apparently didn't have one so DD ended up wedged into a child seat, so this time we are taking our own booster seat.

 

[lexie32]

Update!!!

I have just spoken to a very helpful lady at the flight operation centre at TCD and i can use my car seat on the flight Harrah!!!!!!!!!!,She checked her flie and it will fit, also they have changing tables in every toilet. I am now much less stressed knowing it will be easier to control my lo.



Alex

 

[jdybnsn]

We took our own car seat when flying to Orlando last year (with Virgin)- we said good bye to it a check in (they bagged and labelled it) and picked it up with our luggage at the other end - no problems - it seems pointless hiring one as it was so simple to take ours and of course we already knew how it fixed in etc.

Luckily we didn't need it for the plane journey - though it would have been helpful at take off as my DD decided to have a complete paddy about the aircraft seat belts !

We found that the main benefits of taking our own car seat were that DD was happy as she was in familiar territory in the car, and that we didn't pay the extra hire charge.

My advice - always take your own.

Don't get stressed - actually travelling with young children is rarely as bad the thought of it !!! Just make sure you are well prepared (including for delays - from a person once stranded in Budapest Airport with not enough formula milk in her hand luggage - nightmare ! )

PS if you have a baby don't forget on some flights you can book skycots - this was a God send when DD was small ,as she slept across the Atlantic in one on our first trip and I was hands and lap free the entire journey ! She was almost 2 years at the time but small for her age - it might be worth finding out if TCD have skycots and what weight and length restrictions they have on them ? Just a thought.

 

[jax100]

We hired ours. We flew virgin and opted for the platinum insurance package which includes everything car seats and all. We didnt need to carry our car seats the guy collected them and brought them across. For legal reasons they are not allowed to fit them into your hire car you must do it yourself. The guy though put my second seat in to help. It was a graco one but it looked very like the brittax.

Our children were older though - dd actually could have got away with only a booster seat. If they had been younger i might have been inclined to take my own car seat so they had a seat on the plane.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Hi Aceman,
what sort of seat do you have? We have also booked our ds a seat as the thought of him on our laps for 8 hours was hell! (hence going with TCD rather than virgin)

I don't understand. You can buy him a seat on Virgin the same as TCD!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Update!!!

I have just spoken to a very helpful lady at the flight operation centre at TCD and i can use my car seat on the flight Harrah!!!!!!!!!!,She checked her flie and it will fit, also they have changing tables in every toilet. I am now much less stressed knowing it will be easier to control my lo.



Alex

Have you ever tried to use a changing table in an aircraft toilet?
It will be fun, beleive me!

 

[lexie32]

I don't understand. You can buy him a seat on Virgin the same as TCD!

Yes I could have bought him a seat on virgin but they quoted me £480 more than TCD at time of booking for the same deal ( i.e 3 seats and car hire I4) to be able to fly virgin i could not have afforded to pay for a seat for my son.

As much as i would have liked to travel with virgin again finances did not allow. As it turned out you are not alowed to use car seats in flight with Virgin at all. so maybe TCD was a better choice in this instance!

( B4 the shouting starts, i will be upset if we get delayed but at least i am prepared, not like the time we were stranded at the worst hotel ever in barbados for 36 hours, on our way back from St Lucia by Virgin)


Changing tables Hmmmm! well lets just home my little man has done his no.2 for the day B4 we fly or things could be interesting

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Its a bit of a squeeze to put it mildly, those changing tables!

Virgin supply a special seat which fits into the aircraft seat, I must admit, I would be nervous aboiut using a car seat designed for over the shoulder locking with a lap belt. Don't most car seat manufacturers say not to use a lap belt on an infanbts seat, not a booster?

We take our reserve car seat with us, a lightweight Britax unit which will also change to a booster seat when he is bigger, fits into the bag no problem, use it for the journer down to the airport, on holiday and back again