https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 02:27:18 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241122 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 16:39:45 +0000 gingerbebe 2241122@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Buy cheap travel car seats (Cosco Scenera Next is the one we have - its $45 from Walmart, weigh 10 pounds and they come with their own plastic zipper bag). Adjust them and fit them to your LOs at home and practice installing it. Tuck one of the manuals in the travel bag. Most airlines will let you check them for free and not count towards your luggage. </p> <p>If you want, you can see if one of you can go get the car while the other waits with the luggage at the terminal. Perhaps your husband can take one of the carseats and LO with him and bring the car around with one seat installed. Quickly install the other one at the curb, throw your luggage in, and go! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241087 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:55:12 +0000 MamaCate 2241087@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyBoecksMom: last time I traveled alone with lo and checked the car seat with our big checked bag. I used a bungee cord to secure the seat to the big wheelie bag, then I pushed the bag with one hand and the stroller with the other. We did get dropped off at the curb and had someone meet us with the rental at the other end.</p> <p>We did buy a cheaper car seat (evenflo tribute?) and just checked it without a bag. It was fine. It seemed cheaper and better for my sanity than renting. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241084 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:53:28 +0000 NorCalWayfarer 2241084@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'll tell you what you *should* do and then what I've had experience doing ;-)</p> <p>You *should* (according to CSFT/Car Seat Lady) bring your own on the plane, with each child in the car seat. This is by far the safest scenario. Kiddos is safely secured in their own seat and seat will not be damaged by going through cargo, and you know your own seat and its history. </p> <p>That being said, what I've done are following:<br /> (1) Bring your own (I've brought a backup car seat we only use for travel) and check it. That way you have your own car seat for the rental car. Car seat can potentially get damaged in cargo though. You can curb check or check in at the font counter so you're not hauling it around the airport. This also worked well with the infant bucket seat that attached to a stroller base, in which case we just gate checked both. Car seats are free to check (at most airlines I believe).</p> <p>(2) Rented a car seat from the car rental agency. Pain in the A** to install because Hertz wouldn't give me a manual nor tell me which car seat it actually was since they have them produced in bulk from the manufacturer. Finally figured how to get a secure install, after a lot of sweat and curse words. But I didn't have to worry about lugging a car seat through the airport when traveling by myself. </p> <p>Ideally I would bring my own car seat and purchase a seat for the LO. But the other two options have worked just fine for us so far.</p> <p>Good luck and have a great trip! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241080 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:51:51 +0000 Rockies11 2241080@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we've rented car seats a lot and we've only ever had good experiences. They were clean and all of them have been Britax brand. We have rented them through car rental companies and through baby gear rental companies in the States and in Canada. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241076 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:50:18 +0000 Bluebonnet 2241076@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We travel with car seats with 2 LOs. We use the CARES harness on the plane so we check the car seats with our luggage (when we get to the airport - less to lug through the airport). </p> <p>Our strategy is to park onsite. One parent wheels a luggage cart and (and anything that doesn't fit on the luggage cart) while the other parent pushes the stroller with the "help" of a toddler. We gate check the stroller and only carry on 1-2 bags total. </p> <p>If we were parking offsite, and it was easy to curb check luggage, I'd consider having DH drop me off at the terminal with the kids, car seats, and luggage. That way we wouldn't have to lug car seats and kids on a shuttle. We have the same strategy when renting cars - DH gets the car, I head to baggage claim with the kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241068 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:45:52 +0000 Sparkler 2241068@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I know it's not recommended, but we just check our car seats at the curb or at the counter. It is free and for us we quickly found it was WAY too cumbersome to lug 3 car seats through the airport and I am not convinced that they are handled anymore carefully at the gate than at the counter (I say this after I had 2 expensive umbrellas strollers break at the gate). I have rented car seats a few times and it has been AWFUL each time. The car seats are super cheap ones (but still cost a lot to rent) and they don't install them for you so you have to struggle with installing a car seat you don't have familiarity with. Once my oldest turned 4, we started using the bumble bum if we weren't doing a lot of driving at our destination. Have fun and don't let your car seat stress take away from your trip! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241063 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:44:18 +0000 mediagirl 2241063@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We checked ours (check it and forget it) and it was easy peasy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241062 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:42:36 +0000 hotchildinthecity 2241062@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyBoecksMom: I know it's not the popular opinion, but I have rented cars with a car seat, and rode in car services with car seats. I don't know personally how to test or check a car seat on the spot, but as far as our experiences, it was fine.</p> <p>ETA: the car seat they gave us on our recent trip was the Cosco convertible one. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241057 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:37:03 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 2241057@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@avivoca: I thought about that too, but that's still two car seats for us to carry, plus our carry-on bags, a stroller and a 16 month old and a 2.5 yr old. I'm sure we could make it work though... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241051 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:33:01 +0000 avivoca 2241051@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No experience, but I know a lot of people purchase a cheaper seat to use as their travel seat. The Cosco Scenera is recommended for this. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/car-seats-when-traveling#post-2241047 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:29:21 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 2241047@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're flying with the girls this weekend and I'm trying to figure out if it we should bring our own car seats or just rent from the car company. </p> <p>It would be a big pain in the butt to bring our own (unload from our car, load to the shuttle, bring through security, gate check, pick up from gate, lug through the airport, and load into the rental car). Those things are heavy and don't leave us with free hands for luggage and carrying kids, but I know how they've been taken care of.</p> <p>But, I'm hesitant to go through the rental company because I don't know how clean, or well maintained their car seats are. </p> <p>Experiences?</p> <p>ETA: It looks like it will be $13 per car seat per day to rent from the car company (so $104 total for both car seats).... </p>