Carseats-checking them as baggage?

[castle71]

Traveling soon and have two booster seats (small backless) that I need to take along, but they are not FAA approved for use on the plane. I know people have suggested putting them in bags to check them. I'm hoping someone can recommend what bags you have used successfully and whether you have checked them with your baggage or where you would check a stroller.

Thanks in advance!

 

[laughinplace199]

We use a carseat travel bag to out our kids boosters in. We check it with luggage too.

 

[all4fun]

If you're going to need them right from the airport, then I would actually recommend gate checking them, or taking them on board as carry on. I recommend this because too many times, we've had luggage get misrouted and I wouldn't want that to happen to a car or booster seat. There have been times we haven't gotten our luggage back for days after it was misrouted. What an inconvenience. If you gate check, at least you know that they made it on the same plane as you. If you do decide to baggage check, then a car seat bag will do the job. Some airlines offer large clear plastic bags to check car seats in but I don't know if you can always count on it. You may want to call the airport and see if anyone can tell you if this is an option.
hth

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We just check the booster seat with no bag or anything. We haven't had any problems. I never have even thought about using a bag. We wrote our name and address on the seat with a black sharpie marker. Our seat has a back that can be removed to make it a backless booster. When we fly we don't bring the back.

What pp said about gate checking makes sense. I never thought about it getting lost. I just figured it was one less thing to carry through the airport. We always take a direct flight too. There is probably more chance of it getting lost if you change planes.

 

[laughinplace199]

all4fun makes a very good point. I guess it can be risky to check booster seats with luggage because luggage can get lost. We did check our boosters with our luggage on our last couple of trips, but my kids are 10 & 8, so although I prefer them to be in boosters, it would be ok if they weren't. We could drive to WalMart and buy new ones if necessary. With little ones, that would be a different story.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

We checked ours as luggage this year and it survived fine. We checked it in at Edinburgh and it went right through to Orlando with no problems even though we had an overnight stay in London on the way.

I would recommend it. Our was big so we didn;t put it in a bag.

 

[Zeebs]

Our two carseats (one booster with back the other a normal carseat) have just been round the world and back again, with no problems.

We did have them in a bag each. The bags were just really for protecting them from dirt and so that straps didn't get caught in anything as they had no extra padded protection.

I did attach a extra, large lable to them stating "carseat please handle with care" in the hope that the handlers would adhear to it.

Ok you take the risk that they don't make it to your destination but I would rather check them in with the rest of my bags than to even think about trying to check them in at the gate or take them as carry on. There is enough to carry with two kids without adding two carseats in my opinion.

This is the bag we have, it is obviously from the UK but I am sure you could get something similar in the US http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs...ter_page-_-endeca_promotions-_-banner_product

Have a great trip.

Kirsten

 

[LWatson]

toys r us has them online that you can buy. The cheapest is a red one, but it offers no padding just protection from skid marks and other things. It says "Gate Check" in big white letters, but I'm sure you could check it regular (just call and make sure).

 

[Hannathy]

I used to just throw mine in a big clear plastic bag so they could see it was a seat and it made many a flight like this without problem. I only put it in a bag after the trip it sat outside on the luggage cart during a plane change in the rain.

I agree with checking it with baggage, who wants to drag it thru the airport with everything else.

 

[annacali]

I have two Safeguard Go seats (five point harness boosters that fold up to the size of a backless booster) for travel. I can fit both of them in an LL Bean XL rolling Duffel Bag (and can add towels jackets for padding etc) and I check them through. Luckily they have always made it ---though I guess that is a chance you take---and that way they only count as one bag instead of two for that pesky checked bag charge with most airlines these days. I am another one who could never carry two seats and keep track of two kids walking through the airport!

 

[castle71]

I appreciate everyone's advice.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I have two Safeguard Go seats (five point harness boosters that fold up to the size of a backless booster) for travel. I can fit both of them in an LL Bean XL rolling Duffel Bag (and can add towels jackets for padding etc) and I check them through. Luckily they have always made it ---though I guess that is a chance you take---and that way they only count as one bag instead of two for that pesky checked bag charge with most airlines these days. I am another one who could never carry two seats and keep track of two kids walking through the airport!

Most airlines do not charge you to check a car seat. You can check it for free with your checked luggage or gate check it for free. I'm not sure about carrying it on. They may count it against you if you carry it on.


I never thought about it possibly sitting out in the rain. I think I'll be putting mine in at least a clear plastic bag from now on.

 

[annacali]

Delta/Northwest and Midwest both charge for checking carseats now just like any other suitcase. That is why I combine both my seats into one bag rather than checking them separately...

 

[castle71]

that I tried to buy the carseat bag at Target and was going to try to put the two backless boosters in one bag, but it was an online only item and it was too late to order it. As a result, I bought jumbo ziploc bags (3 in a box for $5.24) and they worked great.

The online feedback on the carseat bags was mixed, and some said the material was flimsy enough that it ripped. I bought the largest bag size available and probably could have gone down a size. In hindsight I was glad I wasn't squeezing the seats in as I suspect that could contribute to the ripping some people experience with the carseat bags. The bags had tons of room, and I packed the extra bag in case one ripped but didn't need it. I marked them well with a sharpie (and included a thank you for good measure) but the gate checked items are given a specific colored tag, so it probably was overkill.

Because they were both backless boosters, they were very light to carry through the airports and I was glad to have the peace of mind that they were "superchecked" and not too far away from my control. On the way home we debated checking them with luggage and decided that it was easy enough to gate check so we did it again.

Next time, I will probably buy the smaller size, which will have four in a box, and mark two for the flight out with the flight number, and two for the flight back with the return flight number.

Thanks, again, for everyone's advice!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Delta/Northwest and Midwest both charge for checking carseats now just like any other suitcase. That is why I combine both my seats into one bag rather than checking them separately...

Strange that they would charge you. I haven't been charged. I just checked the Northwest website, and it says "Additional checked allowance items: The following items will be accepted in addition to the checked baggage allowance at no additional charge: Child carseat, one container of fruit (max 10 lbs) for travel from Hawaii or Florida, assistive devices.

Has anyone else been charged?

 

[Mickeypooh99]

Okay, I just checked the Delta website and it also clearly states "Strollers and child restraint seats will be checked for free, and are not counted as part of the standard baggage allowance."

I'm not sure where pp got her information from.

 

[annacali]

Delta must have recently CHANGED their policy. In June, and in fact when I previously posted in this thread, their website stated the opposite...that carseats that were checked as baggage would be charged as such...and in June we were indeed charged for the carseats roundtrip (ie charged both ways) when we checked them.

I am VERY glad to see they have changed their minds on this.

I checked and Midwest no longer even addresses carseats on their website (they did a few weeks ago to say they would charge for them...and they also DID charge us when we flew to LA for our disneyland trip last month).

I am hoping this is a trend and all airlines will give us a break on the carseat charges.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I would gate check them ~ what if they get lost or damaged in checked baggage?

 

[Hannathy]

I would gate check them ~ what if they get lost or damaged in checked baggage?

It might cut down on the getting lost but how would it prevent any damage (not that I would even worry about it) they all go into the baggage hold.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Checked luggage isn't treated with much care ~ it get's tossed & dropped ~ perhaps if they could tell it was a child seat (unbagged or plastic bagged) they'd be a bit more cautious.