Travel: checking car seats

[veggiemo]

For our upcoming flight, I plan to check car seats for both kids, and also a pack and play.

For those of you who have done this, any advice? I have a car seat bag from traveling with DS1. Should I get another travel bag? Also, DS1's car seat is really heavy, is it worth it to get a cheap-o lighter weight one for travel?

As far as the P&P, do I just check it as is? Do I need to zip-tie the case zippers closed or anything?

[dmoney]

Jun 15, 2016 14:13:52 GMT -5 veggiemo said:

For our upcoming flight, I plan to check car seats for both kids, and also a pack and play.

For those of you who have done this, any advice? I have a car seat bag from traveling with DS1. Should I get another travel bag? Also, DS1's car seat is really heavy, is it worth it to get a cheap-o lighter weight one for travel?

As far as the P&P, do I just check it as is? Do I need to zip-tie the case zippers closed or anything?

Are you staying at a hotel?  You might be able to get a pack n Play from them and that way you will only have to bring your own sheets.  we gate checked her car seat, stroller and Car Seat base (still in the bucket seat) but I have seen people check them in just a large clear trash bag.  You might also be able to reserve the car seat from the car rental place.  Might be easier to call and see if they offer them instead of dealing with lugging them both.

[veggiemo]

It's a VBRO, so no pack and play available to borrow. The floor in the rental is tile, so I really wanted to have a safe place for him to sleep (and a good place to set him if we need to temporarily contain him)

@jemomma good idea for the curbside check-in and also good to know they provide plastic bags.

[Deleted]

Plus 1 to curb side check in your car seats. There was a parenting thread recently about this I think started by @aditi but I forget the thread title. Lots of good travel advice

[Deleted]

The plastic bag over car seat sounds like a great idea. I'll do this next time.

[billyhorrible]

We put one carseat in the stroller bag and one in a carseat bag. (But we don't travel with a stroller)

Do your kids not have their own seats? We bring the carseats on the plane for them to sit in. And when we lap sat we gate checked them, so if there were extra seats on the plane we could use it, and if not they weren't thrown through baggage.

[belle0720]

I only have one kid, but we bought a cheap Cosco carseat ($40) specifically for travel and going in my ILs' car (in case it gets damaged nbd). We'll gate check if needed or bring on board for LO to sit in if there are extra seats (which happened on our last trip).

[billyhorrible]

Jun 15, 2016 17:55:32 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

Jun 15, 2016 17:49:23 GMT -5 billyhorrible said:

We put one carseat in the stroller bag and one in a carseat bag. (But we don't travel with a stroller)

Do your kids not have their own seats? We bring the carseats on the plane for them to sit in. And when we lap sat we gate checked them, so if there were extra seats on the plane we could use it, and if not they weren't thrown through baggage.

oh, so they let you do that? That would be my dream for Hawaii to be able to sneak his car seat on (he's gonna be a lap baby). So what you are saying is I should ask when I check in and they might allow it? *fingers crossed*

Yes -at the gate. We've even had it offered to us before without asking (but only once)

[belle0720]

michyme123 I'm not sure if they can tell you when you first check-in, we asked when we got to the gate and Voila!

[shahoi]

Jun 15, 2016 18:00:46 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

Jun 15, 2016 17:59:22 GMT -5 belle0720 said:

michyme123 I'm not sure if they can tell you when you first check-in, we asked when we got to the gate and Voila!

mind blown.

Thanks for starting this thread veggiemo

Yes, thank you so much veggiemo! We are flying in July and I had all the same questions

[veggiemo]

Jun 15, 2016 17:49:23 GMT -5 billyhorrible said:

We put one carseat in the stroller bag and one in a carseat bag. (But we don't travel with a stroller)

Do your kids not have their own seats? We bring the carseats on the plane for them to sit in. And when we lap sat we gate checked them, so if there were extra seats on the plane we could use it, and if not they weren't thrown through baggage.

DS1 has a seat and LO is a lap baby. It's a short flight (2.5 hours), so I didn't think I wanted to try dragging the car seats to the gate with us. You think it's worth it? I mean, through security and all that?

I will definitely read the other thread (thanks @aditi !) but I'm just starting here.

[veggiemo]

Jun 15, 2016 17:57:30 GMT -5 belle0720 said:

I only have one kid, but we bought a cheap Cosco carseat ($40) specifically for travel and going in my ILs' car (in case it gets damaged nbd). We'll gate check if needed or bring on board for LO to sit in if there are extra seats (which happened on our last trip).

Yep, we have the Cosco carseat for LO. We actually have 2 Coscos, but DS1 is too tall for it, so I'll have to lug his heavy graco harness booster. That's why I was sort of thinking of just getting a lightweight belt booster for the trip.

[tiffbot]

Continuously lurking these threads for the winter, I'm going to be such a newbie at the airport with kids ah. Thanks team!

[veggiemo]

Jun 16, 2016 9:59:18 GMT -5 @jemomma said:

veggiemo I'm not sure how big your DS is but we just bought a booster seat for DS for only $25 at walmart. I think they only need to be 40 lbs to use it. It's something that would be relatively easy to carry on the plane and have him sit on.

DS is only 32 pounds, he's a string bean. So If I did a booster, it would have to have a back. We will be doing some extended driving while we are there, otherwise I'd probably be a little more lax.

[dmoney]

Jun 15, 2016 21:06:20 GMT -5 shahoi said:

Jun 15, 2016 18:00:46 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

mind blown.

Thanks for starting this thread veggiemo

Yes, thank you so much veggiemo ! We are flying in July and I had all the same questions

We have flown with DD twice and we have gate checked the Stroller, Car Seat Base and the Car seat (I wore her on the plane).  it makes it a hassel to get through security to have the extra pieces but it was nice to know they werent getting gosseled around through baggage claim.

[billyhorrible]

Jun 16, 2016 10:05:43 GMT -5 michyme123 said:

Jun 16, 2016 9:59:18 GMT -5 @jemomma said:

veggiemo I'm not sure how big your DS is but we just bought a booster seat for DS for only $25 at walmart. I think they only need to be 40 lbs to use it. It's something that would be relatively easy to carry on the plane and have him sit on.

I'm secretly hoping ds1 will be that weight by the time we leave lol he's 34 lbs and just turned 4. When we go he will be almost 5. But who knows about his weight, he gains so slowly!

Yeah, LBB isn't even 40lbs and he'll be 5 in October.

[billyhorrible]

Jun 16, 2016 9:31:20 GMT -5 veggiemo said:

DS1 has a seat and LO is a lap baby. It's a short flight (2.5 hours), so I didn't think I wanted to try dragging the car seats to the gate with us. You think it's worth it? I mean, through security and all that?

I will definitely read the other thread (thanks @aditi !) but I'm just starting here.

Personally I like gate checking the car seats because I feel like they get less beat up/ damaged. I don't know if that's actually true or not. Back in 2012 they used to say you voided your carseat warranty if you checked it and didn't have a bag from the same manufacturer, but that didn't apply if you gate checked it. I think now it doesn't matter where you check it (gate or desk). They consider the warranty voided in either case. Which makes me think they get banged up regardless