Taking a car seat for a vacation??

[sumo]

We are planning for a vacation next week and this will be our daughters first vacation.. She is 20 month sold now. We are going to fly and then rent a car in that city.

Do the car rental (We booked budget car rental at the airport) provide car seat upon request? or do we have to carry the bulky car seat along with us?

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
-Sumo

[foggierbard9]

I would suggest taking your own car seat. If you bought her a ticket then she has a seat and can ride in the seat on the plane. If you didn't buy her a ticket they may have an open seat on the flight and she can ride in the carseat on the plane. If they don't have an open seat and you carry the car seat to the gate, they will tag it and put it under the plane and you can get it at baggage claim with your other luggage.

My son has been flying since he was 9 mos old. I always take the carseat to the gate and see if their is a seat available. It is much safer for them to fly in the car seat rather than sitting on your lap or just sitting in the big airplane seat. Sometimes we buy him a seat and other times we dont, but I always have the car seat. This also guarantees that when we get where we are going, I know that his seat is safe and hasn't been in any accidents or damaged by someone elses misuse.

[greenrays]

You can also check the carseat and not have to worry about it flying down the baggage claim.

It was fast and they gave it to us right when we got off the plane but still in the little breezeway thingy.

[beth119]

All car seats on planes have to be FAA approved...

ALso, if you are changing planes, then you will have to lug that sucker around...

[MariaT]

Car rental companies will charge you an extra fee for the car seat.

[Spanelli8706]

I have flown with my daughter about 6 times since she was 6 weeks old. We've always taken our carseat and checked it at the gate. Good luck.

[pyxiedust]

All car seats made in the last 5 years are FAA approved. I checked when I flew with my, then 7 mon, last year. He's 18 mon now, so if you got a new carseat you should be fine.

Also, I second the taking your own. 1 - you don't have worry if the rental agency is out, leaving you stuck while they track one down, and charge you a fee! 2 - you're familiar with it and how it works, no fussing with crazy instructions while you're loading all your stuff into the car and trying to get out of there.

Yeah, it's a pain to lug around if you're changing flights, bring your stroller and push it around in there. Then, carry your child, unless it's a double.

BTW, Have a great time on your vacation!!!

[tiger_fan3]

Both times we have flown with kids, we just checked the car seats in with our luggage. I didn't want the hassle of carrying it through the airport while trying to carry the carry-ons and a child. I didn't think it was necessary for me to have it on the plane for them. Car rental agencies will charge a fee for providing a car seat, usually $20-$30 each. I didn't want to spend that last time cause we had two kids and we were using the rental car for a day, dropping it off, then a few days later getting another rental car. That would have been about $80-$100 for the car seat rental. Most airlines do not count it as part of the luggage count (1 piece per person).

[tmsmalley]

Just take your own car seat. If you've paid for a seat (which you REALLY should do, you wouldn't sit your child on your lap while you ride in the car, why do it on the plane?), you'll use it there. You can check it (shouldn't be an extra charge- call the airline ahead and confirm) or gate check it. If you know you're going to check it however, it is MUCH easier to check it at the main counter and not lug it to a gate. Car rental seats are hit and miss as to size, cleanliness and availability as well as price. Have one you know you can trust if you're going to be driving around.

Tess

[norasmomma]

We went to Mexico when our DD was 16 months, we did bring her carseat, but Alaskan Airlines lost it when we transferred planes at LAX. We had already made plans with our friends to possibly rent a seat, well we ended up having to get one because they lost our seat. IT was so freakin gross and it was pretty old, but it had to do for the time being. They did get DD's carseat the next fight in which was 3 days later. She was so happy to have some familiarity from her life.

If you do plan on taking your own I would personally order one of those nice bags for it. The reason DD's got lost was because of the way they packed-the tag that said La Paz got all crunched up and so no one knew where it was going to. There are also those great things that turn it into a stroller. Both items are at onestepahead.com, I would have loved to have the stroller attachment because trying to transport DD, our luggage, her carseat and our carry-ons was a total PITA especially in LAX, that is a confusing place to begin with, but coming into customs there just plain sucks.