Car Seats for Intl Flight

[StephanieW]

I have been reading the threads on carseats. We already bought a Roundabout. Now I am wondering if we need to buy another, lighter carseat to bring to China with us. Is there a safe way around this, do airlines rent seats? I can not imagine how we will get a car seat to China with the weight requirements for luggage. Of course safety of my child is most important. I am just wondering how others have handles this situation.

TIA

[kransden]

Remember all car seats have to pass a safety inspection. So more money doesn't neccessarily mean safer, just nicer. I have a RA for everyday. My dd is in the car at least an hour with our commute. My friend picks my dd up once a week. So I bought him a Graco car seat.
http://tinyurl.com/5ff4u (this is close to it)

We always use it when we travel. It is a lot lighter, and fits in the airline seats better. The cup holder is a huge plus. So if you can afford it, I would buy a lighter weight, more manuverable cs. Maybe you can use it in your second car or give it to a grandparent?

BTW, my dd loves both seats, the RA just has a lot more padding.


Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[hjdong]

We brought a stroller/carseat with us to China. Here is what we did - we opened the box and packed around the carseat (you could do this with your RA as well)- things we wouldn't need initially (baby stuff - we had an orientation in Bejing before going to our province). There is actually a lot of room in the box and we were able to get almost all baby stuff in there. We also packed extra bags in there. So, we didn't even open that box until we got to the province and needed it. We were thankful it was a stroller because DS hated the carseat until we took him for a walk in it. Then we used it for our two flights. Keep in mind that your carry-ons, while they have to be a certain size, don't have to be a certain weight. So, we took a backpacking back pack and filled it with heavier stuff.

Something to note: the airport in Guangzhou doesn't have hallways directly to the plane. You go down a couple of flights of stairs, to a bus, and then up the stairs to the plane. All plane boarding is done as a general call - no these seats first. It was really a pain in Guangzhou because we had already strapped DS into the stroller, only to discover that we had transport the car seat up and down several times.

If you do get the stroller car seat (sit and stroll - it took me that long to remember what it's called) I have found it really useful. I use it as a secondary car seat and whenever I go someplace with my friends and their kids, I just take that. Carpooling is easy and I don't have to take a seperate stroller (although truthfully DS is not too much into the stroller, it is useful around naptime). I wouldn't want it as a primary car seat however.

HTH,

[jmziegler]

Hmmm, just returned from China in late October. I don't remember going thru that much trouble to get on the plane. Perhaps you flew out of their old airport. Guangzhou opened their new airport in August, 2004. It's very nice. You can see pictures of it at www.ziegler.smugmug.com (the first 15 pictures under adoption travel). On the other hand, if you have to fly thru Nanchang, expect to take a bus to the plane.

Happy Travels.

Jo Marie

[hjdong]

We were at the old airport - they were in the midst of construction. We were there in Feb., 2004.