Checking a car seat when you fly..what bag to use?

[werforpsu]

I was wondering what everyone's favorite bag was to check your car seats in for flying.

I will be traveling by myself with my 2 DS's (2.5&6m) and we will be checking one of our 2 car seats (a graco sung&ride infant seat). I had considered gate checking it, but that means lugging it through security and the airport and being by myself can make that difficult. I would rather check the car seat with my luggage. I have read some great things about the JL Childress ultimate car seat bag that you wear as a back pack, but was wondering what others experiences were. is it comfortable? do you wish it had wheels?

Money does not grow on trees for us and if i spend money i need to justify the purchase both to myself and my husband which means i can't spend $40 on something that won't last the trip.

eventually, we will be putting DS #1's seat (a graco nautilus) in the bag instead, and i want to make sure that the bag i buy, will work for future uses too. I fly 1 time a year with the kids by myself from Baltimore to Florida to see my Aunt.

thank you for your responses!

 

[Maedze]

You're actually not going to get recommendations for this idea, unfortunately, for a couple of reasons

1. Big reason: children under 40 pounds are safest in an appropriate child restraint while flying in a plane. Mother's lap is not safe. You cannot hold your child with the strength to protect him in the event of a runway crash or severe turbulence. Whenever the 'fasten seatbelt' light is on, your children should be safely buckled into their own child restraints in their own seats.

2. Second big reason: car seats should never be checked as luggage. Car seats are thrown, kicked, dropped from high places onto concrete and tarmac. They are returned damaged, and sometimes not returned at all. Worst case scenario, you get your seat back and it looks fine, but it's sustained invisible damage in a fall, and it fails when you need it....a car accident. So using a child restraint after it's been checked on a flight is the equivalent of making your child a crash test dummy, unfortunately.

Car seat bags will not keep your seat safe. It might protect your seat from slight cosmetic damage, but it won't keep it crash proof.

 

[LISmama810]

None of us would recommend checking the seat.

Your child is far safer using the seat on the plane. (It's not mid-air crashes you have to worry about--it's aborted takeoffs, rough landings, and turbulence.)

Plus kids (and their parents) often do better when they're in a familiar car seat.

If you check the seat, you risk losing it or having it damaged.

If you MUST check the seat, I would strongly recommend gate-checking rather than checking it at the counter. Since it doesn't have as far to travel (from the counter to the plane), it's less likely to get lost, and possibly less likely to get banged around. Also, if you wait until you get to the gate, you might find that there's an empty seat they'll let you use for the child. (I'm assuming this is a baby since you're talking about checking an infant seat.)

I can't recommend a bag since I've never used one, but I know people recommend packing the seat in the box it came in if you still have it. (You'd likely have to check it at the counter to do that.)

 

[bree]

There was a recent thread here where the poster had her Radian damaged after checking it. I just thought I'd share it as an example of how seats can be damaged by checking them instead of using them on the plane.

 

[bobandjess99]

yes to the prior response. You aren't going tofind a tech who is going to recommend checking a carseat. They come back horribly damaged all the time, and even uif it doesn't "appear" damaged, because we know they do horribly mistreat them, you could never be completely sure if it were safe ever again. There is also the issue of the child haveing a safe placec on the plane. I know it is tempting to use the "free" ticket for kids under 2, but safety-wise, it's a really bad idea.

Options other than checking a seat.
1 - as has been said, buying a seat for each child and bringing the seats onto the plane is the safest option.
2 - this option works well if you are going to the same place eachtime, as opposed to random vacation sites, but you have said you are indeed going to the same place each time, so it would work well for you. Buy/have your aunt buy a cheap carseat for use at her house. A cosco scenera costs $45, and will fit your 2 yo or new baby. Of course, we absolutely would prefer to see both of them rearfacing, as rearfacing up to age 4 is recommended. It doesn't address the issue of safety on the plane, but it keep sthe carseat itself safe n the ground.

 

[werforpsu]

Though i know that having him in his own seat is ideal, it wasn't possible for financial reasons. just the money to buy a bag is something it will take me several months to save up. I try to keep my stuff to a minimum traveling through the airport, because i have to take everything apart to get through security and I will have to take the baby out of his seat even if he is asleep in it when we reach security. Also, southwest no longer has preboarding, so I need to take everything down the isle in one trip because other people will be boarding, i find the situation extremely stressful with one child, and have never done it with 2...toddler walking, diaper bag on back, baby in front carrier and i have in the past held the booster seat over my head (i need to avoid the baby in the carrier this time too!).

I was hoping that i could wrap the car seat in blankets, jackets, stuffed animals, diapers and pillows inside the car seat bag to help protect it, since i have to take the items anyway. I figured that by not needing my base, only the seat, the bag would be plenty big enough to fit other things in it. Next year I will have 2 kids in boosters, and was hoping to use the bag as a carry on, with one seat in it, and it on my back for walking through the airport.

Are there any car seat bags that have hard sides for protection reasons? i know it is a long time coming for me, but what do you do once your children are too old for their seats on the airplane, but still need them in cars (i remember reading that you can't take a belt positioning booster on a plane, only a 5pt harness booster.)

 

[Maedze]

If you absolutely must check the car seat, check it in a packing box, not a bag.


Once your children are too big for seats on the plane, you use their seats as carry ons....backless boosters, travel vests, etc.

I assume when you say 'booster' you mean 'harnessed forward facing seat'? An 18 month old needs a rear facing convertible, not a forward facing seat

 

[werforpsu]

what i meant was that neither child would be in an infant seat that can be just clipped into the stroller or carried with the child in the seat.....they will both be in seats that i have to curse to get them through the airport and down the isle by myself DS#2 will be in a rear facing convertible seat that we own next year at this time (DS#1 is literally to big for the seat already, hence the GN)

 

[steph_s]

I would NEVER recommend packing a car seat and letting the airline handle it! A bag for your seat is pointless as the seat will be damaged anyways just by them handling it and more than likely the bag will come back damaged as well.

If you are going to spend $40 on a bag to carry the seat why not just buy a scenera to use while your on this trip for the baby? If your staying with family instead of it being a vacation you could just leave the seat there for future use!

As for getting through the airport the easiest way? Nautilus strapped to luggage carrier and the infant car seat bungee corded to the nauti. Put the baby in a sling and stack again with bungee cords your carry on bags to that luggage rack. I have traveled before with 2 car seats and 3 carry on bags strapped to a luggage rack and it was simple to get through the airport. I did buy one of those little backpack leashes from Target for my then 3yo so I didn't have to constantly worry about him running off. I could also easily get the entire thing through the isles on the plane. Then again I purchased my kids their own seats because it's safer!! I just can't see allowing the airline to damage your seat like that!

Do you know what happens when you check your bags? You check them and after they go down the long conveyor and x rayed they get shot out through a chute. Sometimes that chute just sort of chucks the bags down another ramp, other times it literally falls down 1 story into a big bin for the guys to stack it. It then travels along the tarmac. Because a car seat is going to be oddly shaped it is going to be stacked at the top of that tower of luggage which means it's FAR more likely to fall. It is then chucked under the plane in any random order falling at least 3-4 more times while it gets situated. It is then exposed to high heat or cold again further damaging your seat. No amount of stuffed animals and clothes is going to protect your seat from a 1 story fall and being thrown around!

 

[werforpsu]

I think i have found the best of both worlds (in this case)...i have a suitcase with hard sides and wheels that the seat will fit in...perfectly, it can't even shift, and the top of the seat is BELOW the top edge of the suitcase meaning that it is completely protected inside the suitcase to protect it from damage. I honestly can't believe that i didn't try this suitcase this way before when I was initially planning. This will be the only trip i EVER take with a baby on my lap, first for safety and because i prefer my kids in their own seats for their sanity, second because i prefer them in their own seats for MY sanity, third because i will never again have a baby young enough to be allowed on my lap.

As least i know that my seat will be protected and be there when we get there.

To answer a question, my aunt and uncle (95yo) don't drive, so we rent a car when we go, therefore i can't leave a seat with her as we would have no seat to get to her house from the airport with, though i should have done that 2 years ago with a pack&play because i am tired of lugging a pack&play every year!

 

[Eclipsepearl]

Now you just have to hope the bag is even there when you arrive. What will you do if it's "rerouted" and doesn't show up for a few days?