Infant or child car seat?

[crazydecorator]

Hi

I hope someone can help. We are going on our first trip to Disney with our son who will be 20 months when we travel. We were just about to book our car hire but were confused about which car seat to book- the options are infant 0-2 years or child 2-5 years. Are the seat sizes different in the US to the UK? As in the UK he has gone into the car seat for 12 months plus.

Thanks!

 

[Vixster]

Hi

I hope someone can help. We are going on our first trip to Disney with our son who will be 20 months when we travel. We were just about to book our car hire but were confused about which car seat to book- the options are infant 0-2 years or child 2-5 years. Are the seat sizes different in the US to the UK? As in the UK he has gone into the car seat for 12 months plus.

Thanks!

If he's not 2 you should go for the infant seat as he is 4 months off and America law is different to ours with seats and things

 

[~Piglet~]

Are you able to take your son's own car seat with you?

 

[dixonsontour]

I'd strongly recommend taking your own.

Most (if not all) airlines carry them for free over your luggage allowance.

Car rental companies charge alot to hire them. The ones I saw on the floor at Dollar at the airport I wouldn't have put my DD in, old dirty and thrown in a heap. You have no idea if they have been in an accident.

There is also the issue of you not being familiar with the seat - after a 9 hour flight last thing you need is grappling with an unfamiliar seat - you are expected to fit it.

If you have a heavy seat at home or are worried about damaging it in transit maybe buy one just for the trip - we did when DD was a toddler. Still cheaper than hiring.

Welcome to the DIS!

 

[Elise79]

I'd strongly recommend taking your own.

Most (if not all) airlines carry them for free over your luggage allowance.

Car rental companies charge alot to hire them. The ones I saw on the floor at Dollar at the airport I wouldn't have put my DD in, old dirty and thrown in a heap. You have no idea if they have been in an accident.

There is also the issue of you not being familiar with the seat - after a 9 hour flight last thing you need is grappling with an unfamiliar seat - you are expected to fit it.

If you have a heavy seat at home or are worried about damaging it in transit maybe buy one just for the trip - we did when DD was a toddler. Still cheaper than hiring.

Welcome to the DIS!

Totally agree

Only thing I would add we have 2 seats for DD (one in each car as I am to lazy to swap them over!) and I always fly with the cheapest lightest seat just incase anything happens to it.

 

[wayneg]

We took one and left it in the car at the end of the holiday last August.
Car seats and satnavs are cheaper to buy than rent plus you don't know the history of it.
This year we will need a booster seat, will pick one up in Walmart before relatives arrive, $13 + tax.

welcome to DISboards!!

 

[Elise79]

We took one and left it in the car at the end of the holiday last August.
Car seats and satnavs are cheaper to buy than rent plus you don't know the history of it.
This year we will need a booster seat, will pick one up in Walmart before relatives arrive, $13 + tax.

welcome to DISboards!!

We were going to do that now DD is in a high back booster however the bag usually has some additional 'passengers' on the way home

 

[chmurf]

The ones I saw on the floor at Dollar at the airport I wouldn't have put my DD in, old dirty and thrown in a heap. You have no idea if they have been in an accident.

dollar seems like a pretty poor company to rent from.

I had a very different experience with Alamo at the Orlando airport
You ask for the seat at the desk inside the terminal, and you get charged for a child seat (max $70 per rental or around $7 per day if I recall wel) and you don't have to choose what seat you need there, since they are all the same price
The seats are stored behind the office inside the garage, they are organised by type, so you just need to visually choose the one that's right for you
They are all clean and protected by a plastic bag, you need to unwrap them before use.

I still don't know how we'll tackle the issue next year.
This year we were given a complimentary booster seat (don't know if the clerk forgot to bill us ...)
But next year we might not get this lucky.
We have a booster seat that we bought for £2 at a yard sale, we might bring it with us on the plane, and eventually leave it at the airport on the way home if we happen to have too much luggage.

 

[Jakejosh4]

hi we always take our own car seats even when the boys were young they fly free of charge. Now they just have a booster seat it is a bit easier as trying to get everthing on the trolley and keep an eye on 2 children and push a pushchair when we took one is a little difficult lol Much easier now they are older.

 

[T16GEM]

We always take our own, we find that we would rather know how to safely fit it afterall we are tired etc after a long flight. The airlines provide thick plastic bags and we just take them to oversize baggage, we've never been charged anything extra to carry them either. Last year we took a high back booster and a regular booster no problem what so ever.


HTH
Gems

 

[orangetiggs]

We always take ours too, i would want to trust a rental cars seats incase they werein accident etc

 

[crazydecorator]

Thanks all!

Don't know what to do...we get magic express included so are only renting a car for the middle week of our trip, so we're only paying for 7 days and don't have to fiddle around at end of long flight.

However I do take the point re knowing the car seat is safe, but there's no knowing what happens if you take your own seat when you hand it over at the airport is there? I always thought that even if you dropped the car seat you should get a new one?

Also very random question- can he go on the magic express without a car seat? never taken him on bus/coach before.

much confused!!!

Crazydecorator

 

[chmurf]

Also very random question- can he go on the magic express without a car seat? never taken him on bus/coach before.

IIRC there are no seatbelts on DME (US buses are not required to have seatbelts unlike our european coaches) so a car seat won't be of any help

 

[Elise79]

Thanks all!

Don't know what to do...we get magic express included so are only renting a car for the middle week of our trip, so we're only paying for 7 days and don't have to fiddle around at end of long flight.

However I do take the point re knowing the car seat is safe, but there's no knowing what happens if you take your own seat when you hand it over at the airport is there? I always thought that even if you dropped the car seat you should get a new one?

Also very random question- can he go on the magic express without a car seat? never taken him on bus/coach before.

much confused!!!

Crazydecorator

We catch ME from the airport to the resort and our car seat gets stored under the bus for the journey. He will just sit in his own seat on or on your lap.

Seriously, take your own seat - I have yet to see a rental companies seat I would want to put DD in. When we collected from Alamo at the car care centre they were just in a pile by the rental counter.

 

[crazydecorator]

Thanks all! We're flying virgin economy and not paying for a seat for him- the website seems to say we can take a pushchair OR a car seat in addition to his luggage allowance. Does anyone know if we therefore have to pay to take both?

If not I'll try giving them a call!!!

 

[wayneg]

Thanks all! We're flying virgin economy and not paying for a seat for him- the website seems to say we can take a pushchair OR a car seat in addition to his luggage allowance. Does anyone know if we therefore have to pay to take both?

If not I'll try giving them a call!!!

The official line is one or the other. I have an email response from them to confirm but its at work.
In reality I have never known anyone being charged.
We took both last year but didn't use the luggage allowance.

 

[orangetiggs]

Last year i took two car seats and double buggy as i have twins and was told that we would have to pay for one item if i wanted to take four cases, so we took three instead, the extra item will count towards your luggage allowance.

 

[Lady Lowe]

we are also flying vs with our (then) 19mth old twins and 4 year old and i've contact them regarding this very same matter as we want to take car seats with us as well as buggies. Basically what we've decided is that we'll take the buggy as the free item and the car seats as their checked bag IYSWIM? we have the travel bag for the car seats and parents have a house there so leaving them there just incase we need them in future (saves taking them again!) that also means we have more luggage allowance on the way back as they are allowed a checked in bag each!

 

[wayneg]

This is the response I got last year.

1 piece of checked baggage weighing no more than 23kg and with dimensions of 35.5 x 29.5 x 16 ins.

In addition to the above, one of the following may be checked or carried on:
a) A fully collapsible stroller/pushchair
b) An infant's carrying basket
c) An infant's car seat.

If you exceed this allowance, I'm afraid that you will be charged extra. For details of excess baggage charges, please check our website on the following link:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/passengerinformation/baggage/allowances.jsp

As you wish to carry both the car seat and a buggy, any one of them needs to be within your checked-in baggage allowance. You can carry the other seat in addition to the 23kg baggage.

Should you have any other queries, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to welcome all of you onboard.

Kind Regards

Anita Mendonsa
Contact Centre Customer Service Team

 

[crazydecorator]

Thanks for your help everyone, have to look again at our luggage!