Flying with 1 Year Old

[Sara916]

Are there any options to rent a carseat or booster seat at the airport? My mom is planning to take our son ahead of us on a move, and I just can't picture her trying to get through the airport with our son in his stroller, diaper bag, and dragging a car seat. She is only 5' tall, and there has to be an easier way for someone traveling alone with a baby.

[schums]

Check out this thread: http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=286961&highlight=rental+car+seat You'll never want to rent a car seat again!! The other problem with renting a seat is that the rental agencies generally don't guarantee that they'll have a seat available, or that the seat they give you will be appropriate for your use. For example, they might give you a booster seat (used with a seat belt only -- no 5 point harness) for your DS, which would be incredibly unsafe. Or have no seat available, and then you're stuck.

Seriously, take DS's car seat along with you. If he still fits in the infant seat, take it along. Put him in it, put the seat in the stroller and backpack the diaper bag. If he's out of the infant seat, you might want to look for a cheap Safeseat (goes to 30 pounds) for the flight. You can probably sell it after the flight (if you don't want to keep using it) for close to what you paid on Craigslist.

If he's too big for a safeseat/you don't want to buy one, I'd bring along your convertible seat, even if you haven't bought a seat for him. You might get lucky and have an empty seat to plop it in. At the very least, you can gate check it, so you'll have it for the car. For a convertible, I'd go buy a Scenera ($40 at walmart). Lightweight, relatively easy to install. Depending on your stroller, you might be able to put DS in the car seat (strapped in) and then put the seat in the stroller and go through the airport. Alternatively, strap the car seat to a luggage cart, dump the diaper bag in the car seat and drag it behind you as you push the stroller.

GL and HTH!