Plane travel question

JulesET

DH and I are going on vacation in March to San Francisco. I am already starting to worry about traveling with DS since it is going to be a very long place ride from Ohio (we have to connect in DC...stupid right?) Anyway, I was originally going to rent a car seat from Hertz and bring DS's lightweight stroller to get him through the airport (since he will be 8 months old then) and then gate check the stroller. United will only allow either a car seat OR stroller to be gate checked and if we want to bring both one would have to be checked as baggage.

After researching I really do not want to rent a car seat but am not sure how to go about bringing everything. I have a travel system stroller that the car seat attaches to that I could bring and maybe get away with it being one item but the stroller is so big that it takes up the entire trunk and I really didn't want to have to travel with it. I don't know if I like the idea of checking the car seat with the regular luggage either though. Has anyone used a car seat bag and checked it? Any advice or suggestions? TIA!

 

mlf625

Don't worry about the flight.  I've taken many flights from the midwest to the west coast, usually without DH, and it's not a huge deal.  Particularly with a baby - babies are easy to fly with compared to toddlers!  

I would never, ever rent a car seat.  You have no way of knowing what condition it will be in or whether it's been in a wreck.  Plan to take your seat.  We've done gate check and regular checking with our seats, I do get a little nervous about checking it through to our destination with a connection but it's always worked out fine for us.  I don't have a special car seat bag, I've just double bagged in black trash bags and put our info on that with masking tape (KLASSY).  

Will your LO still be in an infant seat, do you think?  (DD was until 10 months, DS until 5.)  If so, I'd invest in a snap and go type thing and use that to travel.  If you'll be moving LO to a convertible prior to the trip, look into buying or borrowing a GoGoKidz Travelmate.  Best invention EVER.  We use ours every time we travel.  It basically turns your convertible seat into rolling luggage, and LO can even sit in the seat like a stroller in the airport.  You disconnect the seat when you get to the plane (then gate check or use it on the seat, depending on whether you've purchased LO a seat) and the GoGo stores easily in the overhead.

Hope that all makes sense.  I wrote up a massive blog post last year with travel tips for flying with babies/toddlers, might help you out.    https://www.mandielane.com/2011/04/on-traveling-with-baby-people.html

happygril

I agree w/the PP.  I use the gogokidz travelmate thing too.  The only thing I didn't like about it was that it puts DD closer to the ground than a stroller---making it easier for other travelers to think its a piece of luggage (and not holding a child)!!!  It really bugged me when we were waiting in line and someone would be standing RIGHT over her as if she were a roller bag.  Other than that I really liked using it and found it was very convenient.

 

Another thought:  Since you and your husband are both traveling together, can't one of you check the stroller and the other person check the car seat?  I always thought each person was allowed to gate check one item.  My husband and I travel United all the time have never had a problem gate checking the car seat AND stroller.  The gate agents usually willing give out gate check bag tags (one less thing for them to worry about)...We've never had issues.