What do I do with carseat?

[Cbarr]

We are flying to Disney in 2 weeks and I'm wondering what to do with DD's carseat. She is not going to use it on the plane, but we are taking it with us for the rental car in Orlando. I don't want to check it with our regular luggage because I think it will get damaged.

 

[BevS97]

if you have bought her a seat then she can use it on the plane, otherwise you will have to check it - we have checked many car seats without incident

 

[Cbarr]

Where do we check it? Does it have to be with our luggage when we get to the airport, or can we check it before we board the plane at the gate?

 

[debster812]

We've checked DS's car seats, and high back boosters several times.

We put our name and address on the bottom of the seat on duct tape or masking tape.

At the checkin counter the agents put the seat in the BIGGEST clear plastic bag I've ever seen, then it gets put into a plastic bin.

Never had any damage. Of course, take a few precautions, make sure any straps are either removed, or tucked in, so they cannot get snagged on anything.

 

[amarberry]

Eddie Bauer makes a nice car seat bag that you can purchase for about $20. It has pretty durable straps that make lugging it around the airport a little easier and enough room to throw in some extras like diapers on the way there and souveniers on the way home.

 

[NotUrsula]

If you prefer to gate-check it for your peace of mind, that is fine.; you still want to bag it in some way, though, to keep grease off it.

Just tell the security screeners that she'll be using it on the plane, b/c otherwise you may be going over your allowed number of carryon items. (TSA screeners don't pay attention to the rules about how old kids should be to use carseats on planes; they just care that carseats don't count as carryons if the kid is going to sit in them.) Then when you arrive at the gate, tell the agent that you would like to gate-check the seat, and they will give you a tag for it. It can then be tagged and left at the end of the jetway as a stroller would be.

 

[MissionMouse]

Eddie Bauer makes a nice car seat bag

We bought one of these and could easily fit a booster seat and a baby car seat into one bag. After seeing individuals at the airport struggling to carry these silly seats without a carrier/bag we knew we needed to look for something to make this task easier. We had also struggled with them during an earlier International flight. Overall, the EB bag makes it easy to carry these odd size objects with cumbersome straps while keeping the seats clean.

At times we checked the bag in at the gate to ensure it wasn't physically abused, but at other times we checked it in with the other luggage. Overall, the seats appear to travel well either way we checked the bag in, but the Eddie Bauer bag made the task easy. This allowed us to focus on the kids and our other luggage.

 

[Ambassador]

Depending on the age of the child, childen are safer and more comfortable with the seat buckled-in to the airline seat. With a ticket, of course. Actually, such an apparatus would benefit all travellers. Seriously.

 

[alloyd1170]

If it's a booster type seat then you cant use it on the plane. I have the Eddie Bauer bag and it's held up great. I use it for the Graco Turbo Booster, and theres still plenty of room in it to toss in some jackets, pack of diapers, wipes, stuffed animal, and more. Its still a pain in the butt to haul around, especially when youre dealing with other carry ons, a stroller and a child, so we always check it with our luggage. Weve never had a problem with it getting lost or damaged. However, the first time we did this I panicked because it didnt come out on the carousel with the rest of our luggage. I though oh no, now what. Turns out, it got put in with the oversized/odd shaped luggage and the pick up was in another spot.

alison

 

[HoosierFantasia]

Could you possibly check with the rental car company and see if they could supply a carseat for you? Sure would save the hassle!

Bill

 

[NotUrsula]

Depends on what she would rather save: the hassle or the money. Personally, I have better things to do with $100 than spend it to rent a grubby carseat for a week.

 

[Buttercup26]

If you are only planning on using it in the rental car, definitely see if the rental car agency has one. We have gotten seats from the rental car companies several times. They have always been clean and well maintained. A couple times they have been free, but have usually paid about $20 - $30 to get one for a week.

 

[robinb]

Originally posted by alloyd1170
If it's a booster type seat then you cant use it on the plane. I have the Eddie Bauer bag and it's held up great. I use it for the Graco Turbo Booster, and theres still plenty of room in it to toss in some jackets, pack of diapers, wipes, stuffed animal, and more.

Ah yes! We called our car seat/booster bag "The Bag of Many Sins" since we cram so much other stuff in there. Southwest ate my Graco bag, I'm going to order one from Eddie Bauer today .