Infant seats MAY have been checked. WWYD?

We flew earlier this week with our 15 month old twins, and gate checked their Britax B-Ready infant seats. (Babies were in our laps on the plane. Yes, I know this is not ideal, but there is no way we could have purchased tickets for all of us, and we needed to see family. Anyway...) While waiting for our connecting flight in Atlanta, a gate agent came over and asked us if we'd like her to go ahead and gate check our seats and stroller for us. As we were wrangling two wild kids, we said yes and thank you, and didn't think about it again. Until we arrived in Philadelphia and discovered that our seats weren't there.

Apparently the agent took them to the flight at the gate next to ours, and sent them to Nebraska. Right.

So, we had to get loaner seats from the airline (Delta), which was upsetting enough, and then it took three days for them to return our seats and stroller. What's most upsetting to me is that no one can tell me if my seats were checked or not. I called Delta several times to reiterate that I wanted them gate checked for the flights back to Philadelphia, but no one could guarantee that would happen, or confirm whether it did or not.

So now I've got my seats back, but I don't know what happened to them. They look fine, but I'm concerned about damage that isn't visible. What would you do? Would you feel safe using the seats? Passing them on to others? We are about to move into bigger seats, but I had planned to give these to friends. Would you file a damage claim? If so, what evidence would you use (ie is there anything out there that explicitly recommends that seats not be checked?)?

Thanks for any feedback. I'm so annoyed about this situation.

It's not what you want to hear, but . . . I wouldn't be comfortable using them and I definitely wouldn't be comfortable giving them to someone else.

For a used seat to be safe, you have to know the history, you no longer do. I would no longer feel safe giving those seats to someone else because *I* would feel personally responsible if those seats failed and their child/children were hurt or killed.

It is highly unlikely that the seats were Gate-checked on the way back to you. That would have been a ton of work for the Gate Agents and Ground Crew with no one there to pick it up or explain why they were doing all this extra work and transferring them through the airport to the next gate/plane. I doubt that happened. If you are lucky, they wrapped them in bubble wrap and boxed them before checking them as cargo, but that is also highly unlikely. Most likely they simply retagged them and sent them back. They may have put them in bags for you, depending on the airline. (I can't remember if Delta hands out free bags when you check a carseat, it's been a long time since I've checked baggage with Delta, so I don't see how the carseats come off the carousel; I know United used to do so though)

I have no idea if there is a document out there saying not to check seats. I think there is one where the manufacturers say that "gate-checking" is okay (I don't agree with them though, but that's another issue). You could try to find that one and use it to argue that since these seats were returned to you through checked baggage/cargo and were not boxed or sent as Gate-checked items, they need to be replaced, but I don't know how far you'll get with them. After all, you did take their loaner "who-knows-where-they've-been-or-what-history-they-have" seats (their point of view, I understand feeling stuck in an emergency!), so they may feel that you are just out to get money.

You'll have to decide if the fight is worth it. Personally, I would probably just toss the seats and get convertibles now. They're going to need them soon anyway and chalk this whole situation up to a learning experience. It's not worth getting super upset over. Things happen, especially when traveling with little kids (I don't have twins, but I do have 2 kids, and it's TOUGH to travel, I can only imagine how hard it was for you!) That's me though. You have to decide what you want to do. How hard do you want to fight?

Airlines are pretty good about stonewalling any claims of damage, and in this case, with no visible or obvious damage to the carseats, it's definitely going to be an uphill battle. The folks you'd be dealing with at Delta likely have zero knowledge of carseat issues (unless they happen to be parents themselves) and wouldn't understand your concerns about the carseats being checked as baggage.

Since you were about to move to convertibles anyway, I agree with the previous poster that it's probably time to move on and call it a loss.

But let's put aside the Child Passenger Safety element for a second and just think of this as a plain-vanilla baggage delay issue. It's undeniable that your luggage (carseats and stroller) were misdirected and that you were without them for three days. That's a huge inconvenience with twins!

And did they deliver everything to your home or did you have to make another trip in to the airport to sort everything out?

I'd send a polite but firm letter (or web feedback form, though I still think that hard-copy letters get more attention) documenting exactly what happened and focusing on the delay and inconvenience aspect. That will be much more understandable to the average customer service person than a complex argument about checking vs. gate-checking and possible invisible damage to the carseats (even though folks here know exactly what you mean on that).

You may get a sympathetic agent who will give you some sort of refund or credit toward a future flight. Or you may simply get a "Dear customer" letter with some lame apologies. But if you are upset about the situation, it is worth a shot.

Gate checking vs curb- or counter-checking is irrelevant. Either way, the seats are treated the same.

Look the seats over for damage. If there is no visible damage, then use them without worry. http://saferidenews.com/srndnn/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=zNnkSQCE0ks=&tabid=352

Thanks guys. I appreciate everyone's feedback. I will write a letter noting the inconvenience of not having our gear for half our trip, and call it a day. Frankly, I am finding that life with twin toddlers is all about choosing one's battles.

Pixels, I'm curious about that document. The conventional wisdom I've always heard is to never check the carseats. Would love to hear others' thoughts. It's a moot point for us - we're moving them into convertibles anyway, and are done having kids - but I had planned to give them to friends. Obviously I will disclose all aspects of their history, but after this incident, was thinking I should just trash them. These recs suggest otherwise. Other opinions?

I am inclined to go with the recommendations on the document that Pixels linked to. And honestly, if your seats were out of your hands for what, 3 days?, and still looked fine, then they must have been treated relatively well.

As for passing the seats along, the vast majority of people will check seats with luggage without giving it a second thought, so I expect that the recipient(s) of your seats will use them even with full knowledge of their history. Of course, your concern is that you don't want to pass along unsafe seats, regardless, so in the end it's going to come down to you doing what you feel comfortable with.

KnittingTigers said:

Pixels, I'm curious about that document. The conventional wisdom I've always heard is to never check the carseats. Would love to hear others' thoughts.

Click to expand...

I mistakenly thought the MACPS statement only covered *gate*-checking, not regular baggage checking, so I am glad that Pixels clarified that.

If someone were to ask me what to do in this kind of situation, I would refer them to that document to reassure them that their carseats were OK as long as there were no visible damage. These are the same manufacturers that test the seats and write the manuals, so I ultimately defer to their judgment on this.

At the same time, it is difficult to square with some instruction manuals (e.g. Chicco, Clek) that say to replace the carseat after *any* crash, even one that does not meet the NHTSA criteria for non-replacement after minor crashes.

If a tiny fender-bender that was hardly noticeable to the vehicle occupants requires replacing the carseat because there might be invisible damage, why wouldn't same logic apply when the carseat is bumped and jostled, crammed into a cargo hold, or even outright thrown and dropped, during the baggage handling process? It does make you wonder.

I also thought your case was unique because (1) you're ready to move to convertible seats anyway, so why make life complicated by worrying about the status of these carseats, and (2) the carseats weren't just checked as luggage, they were misdirected by the airline and had a 3-day return odyssey that involved who-knows-what kind of (mis)handling.