I am checking my Britax Decathlon at the airport- will they throw it around?

steph410

New member
I am checking my son's carseat (Britax Decthlon) as luggage and I'm worried that they will throw it around and potentially crack it or damage it. Is this common? My husband said they don't throw luggage around, but I've seen them throwing bags into the plane when loading. Any advice??
 
ADS

all together ooky

New member
Take it on the plane with you and use it. If they don't have any seats available then gate check it. DO NOT luggage check it! It is almost guaranteed it will be thrown around and damaged.
 

steph410

New member
we are going on a trip with me, my husband, my 2 year old, and my 14 month old. unfortunately we can't afford to pay over $1000 for 4 seats-. so we bought a ticket for our 2 year old (he will be in his carseat) and my other son will be on my lap. so we will already have the 2 year old's carseat with us at the gate and will be using it on the plane. do you think they will allow us to bring an extra carseat up to the gate eventhough we didn't buy a ticket for the 14 month old?
 

Ahzryn

Active member
Even gate checked it could be damaged, stolen, or lost. Use it on the plane for you child, it's safest for them and the seat.

I flew ONCE with no seat for my child and it was an utter disaster. After that we bought seats, and it was worth every single penny twice over. The last time we flew we gate checked two backpack carriers and used the carseats in our paid seats, even though the youngest qualified as a lap child, from Ohio to Hawaii. Even on such a long trip it was a breeze with the seat, but the carriers mysteriously disappeared in LA, and the umbrella stroller was completely destroyed. So much for gate checking being safe.

I know it's expensive, but buy a ticket and use your seat.
 

Adventuredad

New member
Who knows what will happen on flight #51.

I understand your views and think you make some good points. Like I said, previous experiences are no guarantee for future events. My seats could explode or be crushed by an elephant on the next flight but it's extremely unlikely. I did mention that my seats are in PADDED bags with EXTRA PADDING for protection. Sometimes even bubble wrap.

My seats, and surely most others, are not that delicate. A person at the airport could do almost whatever he/she wanted and my seat would still be just fine.

How do you think your seat got to the store where you bought it? Containers, air freight, trucks, etc. Cold air, hot air, dirt, and surely extremely rough handling. Probably not handled in a delicate way and nothing different from the airport. Often in boxes that are far less padded. True, the seats are "new" but there might still be damage there we can't see.

Worse case you end up where you're going with a broken seat that you don't know is broken and it kills your child as your in a collision on the freeway outside the airport.

A person is more likely to be struck by an asteroid and winning the lottery on the same day. We're talking about such low probability events that anything else is more likely to happen. I'm really into safety for my kids but I also look at the chances of real events. Chances that a truck crushes my car seat in such a way I don't see it when I install it and then crash after that are so small it can't be measured. A child is at more risk eating an apple or walking through the living room at home than these things happening.

I'm glad AD is happy with his kids in the seats for 20 hours

I wish:whistle: My kids can't sit still for that long and I don't sit with them in the lap on the whole flight. It's not possible for me or my kids. If a child loves to sit in the car seat and it's the best thing in the world I agree bringing it on the plane would be a great idea. But I don't know any child who is like that. Never had any issues with looking out eh window etc. I bring their safety blanket and things are fine.

If you do have some tight connections I would consider making other arrangements. Your seat not making it to your destination is no fun. That would be an option more likely to happen than some one-in-a-trillion event.

Have fun on your trip!
 
Last edited:

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I wouldn't check it. You're handing it off to someone you don't know who isn't used to handling carseats properly (like AD said, they're not delicate vases, but they are one use only items, they crash hard enough and they're done, and you and I and even AD might not be able to see the damage before it's done damage to our child) and they're doing whatever to it for however many flights you have. I freaked out when my trustworthy mechanic had obviously removed the carseat from my car (and reinstalled it terribly). I didn't know if they had taken it out and tossed it down, put it to the side, whatever. These were people I can talk to, they told me they never actually undid the tether, the seat stayed in the car, they just needed to get under it so they pushed it to the side. You're giving your lifesaving device off to several people you don't know and trusting that they will treat it as it deserves to be treated. As a device that can one day be the make or break for your child's future. AD's flown with his checked 50 times. Great. I'm glad what works. Who knows what will happen on flight #51. Worse case you end up where you're going with a broken seat that you don't know is broken and it kills your child as your in a collision on the freeway outside the airport. Next worse is that your flight is delayed and you end up landing at 1 a.m. and arrive to a broken seat and the only Walmart or Target is 90 minutes away and closed. Best case of course is that they wax and polish it on its way through and it does wonderfully.

Is it worth the risk? It is far more convenient to travel without, certainly, but it's far less safe. For your child, for you (who do you think you'll hit in a collision? Your lap baby. I don't think either of you would appreciate that), for the carseat.

You can get a Traveling Toddler from amazon or other online sites, you can get a cheap luggage trolley from Walmart and bungee the seat onto that. Get two and both kids can ride in their seats through the airport. No strollers needed. Then when you get there ask if there's a spare seat. If so you can set up the carseat in the free seat. You'll likely be separated from the other half of your family, but on the other hand you'll all be safer, and you'll have a much more comfortable time of it, as will your baby, because you're both not stuffed into the three cubic inches you're given. Plus baby knows that a carseat means no moving. I'm glad AD is happy with his kids in the seats for 20 hours. Piper would go bonkers. She wouldn't sleep as comfortably; she'd slump and the seat would be too wide. She wouldn't be able to see out the window as well. She wouldn't be in something she knows. Imagine being able to take your favorite recliner on the plane with you. How comfortable! So baby will be safe in a seat, comfortable, taking up his own 3 cubic inches, you'll have your own, you won't need to have arms of steel to hold down a 14 month old who probably wants to walk and probably doesn't get when and why you can't.

And I know it's pricey, but babies are expensive. Carseats are expensive, but most people don't balk at buying one because it's safer. It's just what needs to be done. The amount of money we spend on making our kids safer is a million dollar industry. If not billion. And that's just one family. ;-) We buy gates, we buy outlet covers, we buy stove guards, we buy cabinet locks, we buy carseats, we buy sanitizing soap, we buy all this stuff. None of it comes out as a $300 price tag at once (other than the carseat) but it adds up. Sticking on another plane ticket so your child can be in their own belt is just another cost that must be endured. It sucks. And it doesn't look to get better any time soon.

It may be moot, maybe you won't fly after this for another 10 months and then you'll be forced to buy a ticket, but even if you fly within that 10 months, buy a ticket. And bring the seat. If for no other reason than to protect the seat and keep it from people you don't trust.

Wendy
 

Adventuredad

New member
Who knows what will happen on flight #51.

I understand your views and think you make some good points. Like I said, previous experiences are no guarantee for future events. My seats could explode or be crushed by an elephant on the next flight but it's extremely unlikely. I did mention that my seats are in PADDED bags with EXTRA PADDING for protection. Sometimes even bubble wrap.

My seats, and surely most others, are not that delicate. A person at the airport could do almost whatever he/she wanted and my seat would still be just fine.

How do you think your seat got to the store where you bought it? Containers, air freight, trucks, etc. Cold air, hot air, dirt, and surely extremely rough handling. Probably not handled in a delicate way and nothing different from the airport. Often in boxes that are far less padded. True, the seats are "new" but there might still be damage there we can't see.

Worse case you end up where you're going with a broken seat that you don't know is broken and it kills your child as your in a collision on the freeway outside the airport.

A person is more likely to be struck by an asteroid and winning the lottery on the same day. We're talking about such low probability events that anything else is more likely to happen. I'm really into safety for my kids but I also look at the chances of real events. Chances that a truck crushes my car seat in such a way I don't see it when I install it and then crash after that are so small it can't be measured. A child is at more risk eating an apple or walking through the living room at home than these things happening.

If you do have some tight connections I would consider making other arrangements. Your seat not making it to your destination is no fun. That would be an option more likely to happen than some one-in-a-trillion event.

Have fun on your trip!
 

steph410

New member
to previous posters who keep telling me to buy another ticket for my second child, it's not going to happen. WE CAN"T AFFORD IT! Sorry but it's a little annoying to hear perfect strangers telling me that I need to buy four plane tickets when I can buy three and still be relatively safe.

Anyways, thanks for the advice on getting a bag and padding it when checking the carseat. I really hope the one we check will arrive at our destination. Do you think checking it at the gate with the stroller would be the best option to avoid that problem?
 

Adventuredad

New member
I think the chances of your seat getting lost are almost zero while checking it at the gate. The chances are higher while checking it as a bag. I don't think the chance of staff throwing it around is any less with gate checking but as I've explained, I'm not very concerned about that.

Best of luck with kids and luggage!
 

tanyaandallie

Senior Community Member
I have checked our carseats. One time we checked our carseat with the luggage and it did not make it to our final destination. We (well, dh) was forced to use the nastiest, oldest borrowed seat provided by the airline. UGH. If I had known then what I know now! You would have thought I would have learned my lesson that time but I didn't. We did it again and that time the lock offs on one side of my marathon broke off.

I would gate check the seat and get a carseat bag for it. There is far less chance of it getting damaged if you gate check it.
 

Ahzryn

Active member
I know it seems harsh, but please keep in mind those of us who are recommending it are doing so from personal experience and from professional experience dealing with hundreds of parents like you who have run into the same issue.

I'm going to leave the cost issue alone, and the difference between 10 months and now. I understand where you are coming from, and I don't agree. And, that's fine :) I just want to make sure you have the information you need to make the most informed decision you can.

Ok, gate and standard checking. The current statistics state, for gate OR regular baggage, 1 in every 150 bags for whatever reason do not reach their destination or are damaged. Gate checked items get sent down the ramp to baggage. They are not handled separately, and are just as likely to get lost or mishandled. In your case, that will leave you at your destination without appropriate means for restraint for an infant in a motor vehicle, which is much more dangerous than a plane. Mishanding by shipping has a much lower incident rate, but does not get you from the airport to your destination. If you are not personally carrying the seat and installing it into a purchased seat, the next best option would be to have someone meet you at the airport with a seat installed at your destination. That may or may not be possible. If you choose to check via either method, I would pack appropriately in the box the seat came in, take pictures of the seat for potential damage claim, and have a plan B just in case. Unfortunately the best way to get your seat from point A to B is in a plane seat. For older kids, it's as a carry-on. One possible option is the Radian, I think the last I checked it does qualify as carry-on dimensions when folded, but I need to double check that. If not, the safeguard go would be another option. It cannot be used on the plane, but it would stow as a carry-on.

For the plane ride itself, a lap child is an unrestrained projectile. You cannot buckle them with you, since they would be crushed by your body mass. You, being a larger unrestrained projectile, would not be allowed to give your seat to your child in an emergency. The vests are not allowed to be used in takeoff, landing, or emergency situations. In such events, the flight crew will do their best, if they have time, to compartmentalize your child in a blanket, under your seat. According to the FAA, "In nonfatal accidents, in-flight turbulence is the leading cause of injuries to airline passengers and flight attendants." Being unrestrained, your child will be more susceptible. A small bit of trivia, a child under 2 is the ONLY object on an aircraft that is not required to be properly/securely stowed.

Finally, there is the annoyance factor. Not everyone elses, though there is that, but yours. I'm sure you been in a waiting room at your wits end trying to keep a toddler entertained and contained for 30 minutes or so. Now imagine that for several hours. A car seat is familiar to a child, it is something that they accept they are staying put in. A lap is something to be climbed into and left on a regular basis. And your seatmates lap, and the flight attendants lap... :) Worst case scenario a temper tantrum/meltdown is a lot easier restrained than unrestrained.

USA Today recently published an excellent article... I encourage you to read it. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/mcgee/2008-07-29-lap-children_N.htm

Unfortunately there are parents out there who regret their decision and felt they were not adequately informed. We just don't want you to be one of them.
 

steph410

New member
thanks for the information- they should really make it mandatory for all babies to have seats purchased for them. i really wish that was the case. at this point it is too late for me to buy a seat for my 14 month old. we would have to pay an additional $1,076.00. which would put the total price of our airfare for one trip at $2,500. So I guess I will have to do a lot of praying that my little boy doesn't become a "projectile".
 

Adventuredad

New member
"In nonfatal accidents, in-flight turbulence is the leading cause of injuries to airline passengers and flight attendants."

Excellent answer with good points. What you're saying is probably true. Turbulence might be the leading cause of injuries, but you make it sound like it's a LOT. Three people dead by turbulence in 20 years is so little it's laughable. Turbulence from a strict injury perspective can almost be completely ignored. It does happen but is too rare to worry about. That's going by stats., not my opinion. But, as many point out, it's true that a small child is safer in a car seat on a flight. It's just that the difference is so incredibly small. Seems like many are thinking about restrained/unrestrained kids in cars, it makes a HUGE difference, and making a similar comparison for aircraft's.

Worst case scenario a temper tantrum/meltdown is a lot easier restrained than unrestrained.

I guess this depends on the parents. Personally I would strongly disagree with this. I will not let my kids annoy other pasengers on flights. I've been there myself and make sure it doesn't happen when I travel with the kids. It has lots to do with raising kids with a little discipline but also showing consideration to other passengers. Something many parents lack completely. I see many more kids in car seats being annoyed and screaming for hours without parents doing anything about it than lap babies acting this way. Maybe I just had different experiences than others.

If my kids are out of control I walk around the plane, distract them, or do whatever not to annoy others. Screaming, tantrums, etc. has not happened. Although there was this time when my daughter broke her eardrum and had uncontrollable diarrhea in the middle of a 20 hour trip which was kind of an interesting challenge.:whistle:
 

Ahzryn

Active member
The odds on that ARE low, AdventureDad is correct. 3 deaths and 266 serious injuries from turbulence from 1980-2004 (most recent stats available). Any turbulence injury that is not categorized as serious (an no, no idea what exactly that is), they don't count. They occur, and I believe include everything up to and including broken bones, they just aren't tracked.

Although potentially not your most serious risk, certainly your most liekly risk is your 1:150 shot of ending up at your destination sans usable seat. Do your best planning for that, and next time you'll know! :)

I wish they would mandate it too. As the article said, they've been TRYING to since 1999, but so far no luck. There are many reasons it has never passed, and not all of them are good ones, but it is what it is. And in the mean time, injuries continue, and parents who take seats, and don't, continue to pay for it in various ways :(
 

Carefulove

New member
I have taken carseats in a NON-padded bag from NJ to Portugal, they even got lost for a few hours and they arrived just fine and I checked them that time with all my luggage.
Personally, if I am checking a seat, I rather gate check it, but if I can't, is not that big of a deal.
 

Ahzryn

Active member
Ahh, finally found a reference on google! Minor turbulence injuries average about 58 per year. So, probably roughly 1,500 in that same time frame as the 3/266. Given the number of flights and people in a year, infinitessimally small. Would that help if it was your kid? Nope, but given your situation, I would be stressing MUCH more over the car seat's safety, ironically :) Well, and your sanity, but I will fully admit I am biased in that regard after flying with a 9 month old long before I was a tech and knew any better. From experience 9 month old in a seat years later was vastly better than 9 month old out of a seat before. And that was with a non-mobile baby :)

The 1:150 is per peice of baggage....given the number of people on a plane, and bags per people including carry ons....statistically someone on your flight is going to lose or have a piece of luggage damaged. Flying for people is safe, they only misplace or damage a few passengers here or there. Baggage...well, not a good situation. I guess that's more the point I am trying to make...the risk to your seat is pretty high all the way around, unless it is carried, used, and stored by you. The fact that that makes your child safer is a great fringe benefit :) To mitigate that risk, about all you can do is box well, ship ahead, have someone meet you with a seat, or carry on somehow.

Are both the 2 year old's and 14 month old's seats Boulevards?
 

Adventuredad

New member
Here is a nice short article on "Lap Children" , the risks, and why airlines still allow it

Thanks for the link. It's a good article and once again explains that kids ARE safer in a car seat on board. I don't disagree. But 3 deaths in over 20 years? Does anyone think that's significant? During the same time roughly 850 000 people died in US traffic accidents. The article also refers to an accident from 1989, almost twenty years ago. I think that sums up very well how large the risks for turbulence or crashes are.
 

tanyaandallie

Senior Community Member
I agree with Adventure Dad. It is safer to ride in on a plane in a carseat but statistically speaking we are just not looking at the same risk as riding unrestrained in a car.
 

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