Travel with Twins- Car rentals?

[schmella]

We have a trip to Florida planned for May. MIL is flying with us, so we'll have three seats on the plane with 2 lap "infants."  We're planning to check carseats and their stroller. 

1) Has anyone checked carseats in their original packaging?  Or do I have to put them in those bags? The boxes they came in seem like a much more secure way to transport them but the guy on the phone made it sound like that wouldn't be allowed. 

2) We normally drive a minivan, but I can rent an SUV with a third row for almost $100 less. We would need to fit a third adult at least to and from the airport (we're meeting a bunch of family, so we won't all have to drive together all the time). Anyone see any potential issues?  I'm ok with crawling into the backseat from the trunk if necessary...

[nomnom]

Make sure the SUV has enough cargo space. A lot of them with third rows have little space behind the third seat. A suburban (or yukon xl) was the only reasonable option for us to fit a stroller in the back with a bit of luggage.

Make sure you can use seat anchors or that the seatbelts actually work with your car seats. We can't install infant seat bases in out 2001 suburban because no latch anchors and the clip part of the seatbelt comes up too far.

[piccyami]

If you want to rent an SUV, definitely get a big one. My traverse works well for using the third row on the rare occasion that we need it, but we can't put luggage and the stroller behind the third row.

[schmella]

Good points about the luggage. If it was just the 4 of us, I'd rent a Sedan tbh. It's fitting that 3rd adult that gets tricky.

[anakah]

For the few occasions we've flown, we checked the car seats in car seat travel bags and rented a minivan. We don't like the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what car we will get when renting so we figure we can't go wrong with a minivan.

[schmella]

phew, I just booked the minivan. After talking with my BIL, I realized my filters were a little off- Everything I was seeing was $450 to $600 for the week, but he and I were able to find a rental for $260. Totally doable.

@feegan, if you don't mind, I'd love to borrow them! I'm trying to figure out who told me to keep them in the boxes.... It really doesn't matter I guess. We bought Scenera Next's for the trip (not willing to risk the radians being damaged) and they were cheaper than renting carseats (which I was totally uncomfortable with).

[nomnom]

$260 is much better!

[schmella]

@feegan, as soon as we get 3 days in a row of clear snot, I'll letcha know. I am so over the sick!