Flying: Checking the car seat...did you use a car seat bag?

[pillsnberries]

We're flying next month to visit some friends. We've decided to check our convertible car seat and have DD sit on our lap. It's a red-eye, so it shouldn't be bad. Anyways, I'm concerned about checking our car seat. Should I get a car seat bag, or will it be OK in a trash bag?

TIA!

[mom2binsd]

Have you flown with her before, even if you don't have a seat for her, if there is an empty one I'd be tempted to bring your convertible on, not just for safety reasons but for your comfort and her ability to sleep, if she's still rearfacing she can even have the seat installed rearfacing which is wonderful for sleeping!...esp for a redeye!

If not, I'd get a large bag, maybe one designed for carseats and GATE check the seat, do not put it through as luggage...greater chance of not having any seat at your destination.

[pillsnberries]

I've never flown with her. We've selected seats in the back and hopefully have an extra seat between us. I supposed that when we check in I can find out if the seat between is still available. But I know on our connecting flight (which is only 40 minutes long), there isn't a seat between us.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We use the Ultimate bags by JL Childress. They are nicely padded. 15/16 times our seats have been there. It came 2 hours late one night, but they loaned us a brand new Scenera to get home. no biggie.

[pillsnberries]

we're connecting in Atlanta; should I be nervous that they will lose my car seat?

[DebbieJ]

yes, get a bag. Car seats can be checked for free and we were able to stuff some extra stuff in the bag and not have to pay for it. :)

[connor_mommy]

I suggest gate checking it rather than checking in the carseat. That way you'll have the carseat at the gate and know for sure that it has arrived at your destination. If it doesn't make it on to the plane after you check it in, then you won't have a carseat.

[vonfirmath]

DON'T use a trash bag -- you don't want your carseat to be mistaken for trash and the trash bags are not that sturdy.

[Fairy]

I suggest gate checking it rather than checking in the carseat. That way you'll have the carseat at the gate and know for sure that it has arrived at your destination. If it doesn't make it on to the plane after you check it in, then you won't have a carseat.

This is a good idea. However, if it were me, I'd do curbside checkin of the carseat, they are WAY better at customer service than the terminal or gate check. Tell them you want your carseat wrapped in a bag, and they'll take a big huge heavy duty clear bag they have just for this and other stuff like it, and they'll wrap it and even make a handle for you out of the top. Tip them NICELY in addition to their fee. That's why they're doin' it. That's my recommendation if you're really not going to have your DC sit in it on the plane. If you check at the terminal, they also have the bags, but you have to tell them to do it, and don't leave until you see them doing the wrapping. As for the gate, again, I like this idea, but honestly, I dunno if they have the bags there. And agreeing with von, NO TRASH BAGS.

[pantrygirl]

We gate check our car seat. We put it in a car seat bag as well.

Sometimes if the stewardess is nice and there is an empty seat, she'll allow us to use the seat on the plane.

Another tip is to get the GoGo Kidz attachment. It helps as it acts as a stroller. We use it in place of our stroller for short trips and it reduces the amount of cargo we shlep around.

[srkaplan]

We recently flew with DD who is just a little younger than your DD. I had booked the flight many months before and didn't realize how much more mobile she would be by the time the trip came, so we didn't get her a seat.....BIG MISTAKE! We were very lucky on the outbound flight to have someone in the middle seat who was willing to move to another empty seat on the plane. This really was a life saver, because it was nearly impossible to keep DD contained & entertained on our laps the whole time. On the return flight, we asked at the gate when we checked in if they could see about other seats for the person assigned to the middle seat in our row. They were very helpful & called the person up and asked them to agree to switch to another seat (which they happily did). Apparently, this is pretty common practice for airlines to try to help you out when you have a baby...and I'm sure that the people who are changing seats are happy to do it so that they are not subjected to the whole flight right next to one! If there are no open seats on the plane, then there's not much you can do, but if there are, I would definitely ask to see what can be arranged.

My biggest lesson learned is that DD will no longer be a lap child on any future flights!

HTH! :)

[AnnieW625]

The few times I did check the carseat at the ticket counter I just used the bags they provided. I much preferred gate checking the carseat because I always hoped there would be an extra seat.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

if there is an empty seat anywhere on the plane, they will move people around so you can use your carseat, all you have to do is ask.

definitely gate-check it if the plane is totally full. Even up the last minute they may still have a seat available for you to use the carseat.

I can't imagine a red-eye with a lap baby. How will you get any sleep at all?

[pillsnberries]

Thanks everyone for your input! I'm going to buy a car seat bag (deciding between the backpack type and the kind with wheels - let me know if you have any opinion/experience with either), and will check at the gate (so we will make sure to have when we get to our destination). Right now there are plenty of empty seats on the flight, so I hope we can get it on the plane. thanks again!

[WatchingThemGrow]

my wheelie ones broke and we replaced them with backpack ones that are padded. much better!

[jgenie]

We use the Ultimate bags by JL Childress. They are nicely padded. 15/16 times our seats have been there. It came 2 hours late one night, but they loaned us a brand new Scenera to get home. no biggie.

:yeahthat: We bought one of these and one of their stroller bags on recs from the board. They're great!!

[hannah]

We too have the JL Childress bags for both MAs. We flew on Frontier once & checked our MA in the plastic bag they provided and one of the clips to strap in the seat belt on the side (not sure what the clip is called) broke off. That's when we bought the bag. One of our bags hasn't held up well - one has broken zippers and holes in it but for the most part it does well in protecting the seat. One word of advice on packing stuff in the bag with your car seat: we were told not to add extra stuff to the bag with the car seat (like coats, blankets, stuffed animals) because the airline can then call it a piece of luggage and charge you to check the bag.

[shoremom]

We just used the bags they provide each time we flown with a seat. It's usually clear and not a big deal. No problems yet :)

[niccig]

We're flying next month to visit some friends. We've decided to check our convertible car seat and have DD sit on our lap. It's a red-eye, so it shouldn't be bad.

TIA!


Ummm, be prepared for the worst and you'll be fine. I've flown with DS 3-5 times a year since he was born. Worst flights are red-eye flights - specifically the 4 hours to the the mid-west and the 14 hour trek to Australia. Everyone is trying to sleep and they are VERY unappreciative of a baby/child and anyone getting up to go to rest room/get things from overhead locker etc.

My advice is to have DC things in a bag under one of your seats, so you don't have to get up to get things. Have whatever you need to calm DC if they get upset. Make sure DC is drinking for take off/landing so their ears won't hurt. DS had a cold once and it didn't matter what we did and he screamed until the plane landed.

If DC is sleeping, don't do anything to wake them EVER. Learned that the hardway. We boarded at 11pm and DS was asleep in stroller. Woke up as going on board, stayed awake until 1 hour before landing...I nearly killed him as I was on my own for this 4 hour flight.

Ask you Dr. about using benadryl. I suggested this to my SIL, who said she would never drug her child, but then after her first red eye flight asked what dosage would be good. But you have to try it out first to see if it makes DC sleepy and not wired.

I did find travel with DS was easiest when nursing as that calmed him and didn't have to worry about the ears. Flights between 1 - 3 years old have been the most difficult for us. 4 years old and on is easy again as DS knows the drill.

Pack lots of diapers and change of clothes - we've had diarrhea blow outs for every hour of a flight. Friends were delayed 8 hours leaving Boston and had to hit up other parents for diapers - they had already bought every diaper in the terminal.

I'm always prepared for worst case scenario and often nothing happens and the flight is easy. But when it goes wrong, it really goes WRONG.

Try to not fight. DH and I always have fights when travelling...we're tired just by all the packing and running around before we even get to the airport. And our patience is very very thin by the time we actually get on the plane.

[pillsnberries]

thanks for the heads up. Luckily I'm just like you and prepare for the worst. I was already planning on bringing her portable DVD player, lots of snacks, toys, bottles, benedryl, extra diapers & clothes, and other tricks that keep her calm. I got a new "large" diaper bag just for the trip. But any other words of advice are greatly appreciated.

[AnnieW625]

Is there anyway you can spring and get her her own seat? If it's a long flight it might be worth it in the end. We did a red eye last year and we had to pay for seat for DD because she was over 2, but we put DD in her car seat and left around 9 pm so she was tired already and slept for most of the way to Dulles from Long Beach. She did much better on that flight than she did on the return day flight. I will now fly a red eye with her even if it means having to drag her Marathon on the plane so she actually sleeps. Good luck!

[niccig]

thanks for the heads up. Luckily I'm just like you and prepare for the worst. I was already planning on bringing her portable DVD player, lots of snacks, toys, bottles, benedryl, extra diapers & clothes, and other tricks that keep her calm. I got a new "large" diaper bag just for the trip. But any other words of advice are greatly appreciated.

Practice with the DVD headphones - I ended up buying child sized ones at Target. You can't have the DVD on without using headphones and some kids don't like the headphones.

If she has a pacifier, don't wean her before the trip.

Whoever will be holding DD has to go to the bathroom before sitting down. We had one flight to Australia where DS was asleep before the plane took off and slept for 8 hours straight. On another flight something woke him up and he couldn't get back to sleep. He ended up in my arms at 4 yo and 32lbs and I couldn't move for 3 hours. Thankfully, I didn't need to.

Try to wear her out before boarding the plane. Have her walk around the airport. At her age we used one of the backpack doggy harness.

See if your friends will help out once you get there. We're always exhausted and DS is rearing to go for a couple of hours until he crashes. It helps if family/friends will watch DS while you have a nap.

For short trips, my friend keeps her DC on their home time zone. That doesn't work for us as DS is immediately on the new time zone. Sucks when he wakes at 7am and my body clock thinks it's 4am. We've been lucky and family/friends will get up early to be with DS and we can get some sleep until we adjust to the new time zone.

Return trip is always worse than the outgoing trip, and it takes DS a few days to adjust back to being at home.

[mom2binsd]

Change her right before you get on board, practice doing "lap" changes for pee diaper changes, and just in case bring an extra top for yourself in case of a mess.

Sounds like the major portion of your flight will probably have open seats, so bring the seat right to the gate in case you can use in onboard...the shorter flight not as much of an issue....

I have a wheeled bag and it works great, esp for me as I hate wearing anything on my back...I attach my bag to my stroller with a small bungy cord and then don't have to pull it and have travelled by myself this way easily. MY MA fit easily in the bag.