Has anyone checked car/booster seats??

[Dina]

My kids are big enough that they don't need them on the plane (My youngest was pretty uncomfortable on the plane with it). We were wondering if we could check them, and then have them for a rental car (instead of paying $100 to rent them). Carrying them through the airport is such a pain.

 

[MariDisney]

I have checked a booster seat for the same reason. I just put a luggage tag around the handle and off it went. Of course, it counted as a piece a of luggage.

 

[tms295]

Aren't you worried about them being damaged? Airlines are known for not being gentle with luggage.... Wont that effect the seats safety if you were to be in an accident? They tell you not to use a carseat after even a minor accident because of unseen non visiable damage. I image the tossing and being buried in a stack of luggage could cause some stress to the seat.

do airlines handle checked carseats differently?

 

[Dina]

Aren't you worried about them being damaged? Airlines are known for not being gentle with luggage.... Wont that effect the seats safety if you were to be in an accident? They tell you not to use a carseat after even a minor accident because of unseen non visiable damage. I image the tossing and being buried in a stack of luggage could cause some stress to the seat.

do airlines handle checked carseats differently?

Wow-- well that's why I was asking???? Obviously I know they'll accept it, but I was wondering if they had special policies for carseats-- our strollers have never come back damaged in any way.

 

[beattyfamily]

My kids are big enough that they don't need them on the plane (My youngest was pretty uncomfortable on the plane with it). We were wondering if we could check them, and then have them for a rental car (instead of paying $100 to rent them). Carrying them through the airport is such a pain.

I bought a travel carseat bag at Babies R Us for $20 and its the best investment I made for our trips.

It has a spot for a label and a strap and a handle. I only need to carry it to the curbside checkin and check it with the rest of our luggage.

It has never been damaged on all of our 9 trips to Disney.

 

[pbharris4]

We checked our booster seat as well. I got a car seat bag (paid $20 for mine as well). Kept it clean and there was a ton of room in it leftover. Mine did not count as extra luggage (we flew Airtran). Ours wasn't damaged and the bag did well, too. We bought alot of stuff (i do mean a lot) and luckily with the extra space I was able to put clothes in with it and stuffed animals so I could put some of the breakable stuff in the suitcase. I was really able to put alot ofstuff in there w/ the seat. I overstuffed it though and did rip, but very little. Now..going down from Wash. Dulles it was considered a reg. piece of luggage (but didn't count towards the total). Coming from Orlando they considered it "oversized." I guess because I packed it with more stuff. I wasn't charged anything though.

 

[MassMom94]

I have checked a carseat more than once and it has never been damaged. The airline put it in a plastic bag before tagging it. This was Northwest.

 

[kathi29]

The thing about the seat being damaged is that you only know if there is visible damage. If they dropped the seat or crushed it or the baggage moving machinery slammed it around, there may be damage that you can't see. Unfortunately there are only 2 ways to find out if there is hidden damage - destroy the seat in order to test the shell, or use it and find out if it holds up if you get in a crash.

I would be much more comfortable gate checking the seat - at least that way it isn't getting tossed around with the rest of the luggage.

 

[jenjersnap]

After much consideration of this issue, we decided to gate check the booster and carseat we won't need on the plane. I know it's a hassle to carry it through the airport - we've got 3 kids to tend to as well - but I couldn't forgive myself if the seat got damaged and something happened to one of my DSs as a result. JMO.

 

[trstno1]

We have three girls, agees 4, 4, and 6. We have booster seats galore in our our cars and the grandparents cars - we probably have 12 seats scattered among all of the cars.

Some of these are backless Graco Turboboosters (highly rated by Consumer Reports), and sometimes as low as $20-25. These are the ones we travel with. You can disconnect the arms and fit them into a large suitcase or duffel. A couple of our rolling duffles are large, and if full, they would exceed the new luggage weight limits. They are perfect for carrying these light carseats.