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Hawaii Babies
SanHawaii08
member
car seat related travel q's
SanHawaii08
member
we're taking our first flight with E next month - eeps. I'm starting to plan already...
1. padded car seat bag (like this) when gate-checking an infant seat - yay or nay?
if yay, what if we end up not needing to gate check? I think it can be folded up and stuffed onto the overhead bin?
if nay, how do you protect the seat from getting really dirty if you do need to gate check? it seems not all airlines will give you a clear bag, but the jl childress [non-padded gate check] bag gets bad reviews, many people said it got ripped up after a single flight. someone else recommended a garbage bag, but I don't know if it will hold up either?
2. car seat base - bring or go without? if the latter, we'll need to pull out the manual and practice at home first, heh, having never actually needed to before.
bonus: other travel tips - nurse on take-off and landing, bring change of clothes for both me and baby, maybe a few toys for the flight, anything else?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: car seat related travel q's
You know, your question brings up a side question about traveling w/car seats that I've had in my mind for a while. Thus far, I've avoided traveling with the car seat because I don't know how many times it's gonna get banged up when they throw the luggage around and I feel like if even being in a minor accident requires us to replace it, then wouldn't getting it thrown around with luggage/etc have a similar effect?
Btw, if I remember correctly, did you sew? If your main concern is getting it dirty & durability of the bag, maybe you can make a large tie bag for it out of some durable fabric at the fabric store? I've been on a sewing rampage recently (making boppy pillow covers, nursing covers, high chair seat covers, etc) so I guess it was the first thing that came to my mind
Plus, you choose a fabric that you like. Otherwise, I wonder if a big pillowcase would work...maybe it's too small still?
I'd go without the base but that's just me. After flying twice with B, I've vowed to pack as light and compactly as possible cuz there's A TON more stuff to bring with a baby. I already have a list of things to buy/keep in mind for the next time we travel.
I generally Ergo B when we travel--it's the easiest for us, esp to have your two hands free, and it avoids having to go through the body scanner *and* getting groped (at least in the bay area & vegas). Other tips: bring bibs/burp cloths on flight, have hubby take care of IDs & boarding passes & check-in tags if you're taking care of LO, bring copy of birth certificate to prove that he's under 2 when you get a lap-child boarding pass for him (may vary depending on the airline?)...that's all I can think of for now
We've traveled three times with Libby's infant seat (Graco32) and used the J.L. Childress bag you've linked to in your post. It works beautifully! We always gate check.
What we do:
Wear Libby in the Ergo through the airport, push our carry-ons (diaper backpack and my purse, etc.) in the Snap N. Go with the carseat attached and the J.L. Childress cover in the bottom of the stroller. We do this because when DH has word the carseat in the cover as a backpack he's gotten hassled at security for having too many carry-ons. DUH! So we just make it look like a stoller, tell them it's the cover and it goes through security just fine.
Once we're at the gate we put the infant carseat in the cover, collapse the Snap N Go and gate check. Works like a charm! The baggage handlers always comment that they love that our carseat is in a bag! It's nice too because it protects it and can be used for convertible carseats too. Ours was snagged on the first trip and came out with a little tear, which I patched up. But it just reinforced for me that it was a good idea to use it in the first place...rather the bag get damaged than the seat! I considered one of those drawstring bag covers, especially because it's cheaper, but decided that the backpack style cover was more practical and better for protecting the carseat (which was our goal).
FWIW, the first time we traveled, we brough the base. We did this because that trip included a 5 hour car ride from SoCal to NorCal. The second (Seatlle) and third (Las Vegas) trips we left the base at home and had no issues installing the carseat without it....mainly because we weren't going to have her in the car much anyway (to/from the airport and a couple of other short trips in the car). I did practice installing the carseat without the base before deciding to do it on the trips AND took the owner's manual with me.
Oh and yes, if you do get a free open seat that you end up using your carseat in, the bag will fit in the overhead bin. It's big and bulky, but it can be done. I take a flat duffle (the kind that are meant to be flat for travel and to be filled with souveniers/acquired items) with me in case I want to use it to contain the cover in a situation like that.
As for travel tips...you've covered it! Oh, I take 8-12 diapers in the diaper bag...just to be safe (in case of delays, blow-outs, etc.) and a travel case of wipes (with at least 30 wipes in there). I also use diaper cream on her when we travel since she does tend to be in a wet diaper longer than when we're at home. I also travel with a pashmina/wrap...great to keep warm on the plane, cover-up when nursing, etc. Oh and I take Wet Ones and wipe down the seat back (table, etc.) and arm rests...just to de-germ a little (I did this before I was a mom too).
HTH!
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
this always makes me wonder too - maybe since I read so many stories of airlines breaking a stroller or something because of carelessness (why I won't travel with our nicer stroller) so I decided I didn't want them handling our nicer expensive seats.
My answer also could be a little different since we never used an infant seat. I had my mom buy a cosco scenara convertible for $40 for her house and we borrow it from her for air travel. It comes in a clear plastic bag when you buy it so we use that to cover it during the gate check. It is really light so I just bungy cord it to my roller bag and leave the clear plastic bag folded in the front pocket of my carry on then take it out and cover the car seat if I don't luck out and get a spare seat.
I haven't traveled with a stroller yet and haven't missed it - but I think we will probably take one to Disneyland with us next month. Actually I'm not really wanting to worry about a car seat for that trip since we won't have a car once we get to the hotel so I think I'm going to hire a limo that provides seats (good reviews online) and will include a stop at a grocery. Our group of 9 (including 2 in carseats) is big enough that the cost will be very comparable to a shuttle.
I'm so glad you asked this, Sandra
We're off to Hawaii in April and I'm already planning things out.
Lori, that is awesome advice, thank you!
We bought J his own seat thanks to a seat sale so I hope that will make it easier for us. Our flight going to HI was full due to Easter weekend so we most likely wouldn't have had an extra seat in our row. We were going to bring the car seat on board but what do we do with the base? Hmm... So many things to think about
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
we've only flown w/the car seat once (out of 5 trips total).... and that time we lucked out and there was an empty seat next to us so we got to take it on....that was good b/c she was 6wks old at the time so she slept nearly the whole way in her seat
all the other times we were visiting family so we got a car seat (convertible) for the grandparents that we just leave at their houses...we figure we'll be visiting them lots in the future, so it was worthwhile. we got the $40 cosco scenera that we leave at the ILs in TN and lucked out and got the $50 britax roundabout (when it was on clearance at Target) at my parents' place in CA ...so worth it not to have to travel with a car seat every time we go to visit them!
for travel tips i think the other girls have covered it...i'll try to think of other things....
nurse during take off but try to keep E from falling asleep until you reach cruising altitude b/c unless he is a sound sleeper he will wake when they "beep" and get on the speaker to announce you've reach cruising altitude
books/toys are good but also think of random novel things he may like to play with...a watch, magazine, water bottle, etc. he is fairly young that you probably won't need much though
if you don't have a nursing cover a receiving blanket works well
when choosing your seats, pick the window seat and aisle seat in a row where the middle seat is open. if the flight fills up you can simply switch seats w/the person in the middle seat (we have never had an issue w/someone in the middle seat not wanting to give up their middle seat to take a window or aisle seat
) - but this helps to increase your odds of having an empty seat between you b/c when others are choosing their seats they'll always choose an aisle/window first before choosing a middle seat!
if you fly AA know that you are allowed (1) carry on, (1) personal item plus (1) diaper bag!! I print this out from their web page so if I get hassled about it, I can show it to them. this allows me to travel with the CDs so we have never had to buy sposies except for the 1pkg I had at birth to use while she still had meconium
definitely bring some "wet ones" wipes (or whatever you use) to wipe down the seat arms, tray table, seat belts, windows etc. anything he might put his hands/mouth on!
oh and just b/c you are wearing your baby doesn't mean you won't get frisked....they patted me down and Miss A once!
also - do you need anything? since i will likely be OOT when you arrive i'd be more than happy to drop off or meet your parents before you arrive so you can borrow stuff and travel w/less... it's not far from where I work sometimes so it wouldn't be a problem at all....not sure what your parents have....we don't have a pack n play or anything like that but we do have a bouncer, extra diaper pail liner, etc if you're interested...... email me and LMK what you need and i can see if we have it
)
if you're only wanting the stroller for Disneyland then I'd just "rent" a stroller there - I don't remember how much it is but I think less than $10/day and then you don't have the hassle of traveling with one more thing - I guess that would be if you are only going to be there one day....
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
What a great idea! I never would have thought of that!
yeah, I looked at that but I read that you can't take them out of the parks (although you can go between the 2 parks). We will want to have one for the hotel (like if he falls asleep in the stroller and we walk him back for a full nap) and for any other walking we do. I will bring the ergo but don't want that to be the primary transport method since both sets of g'parents will be coming (and staying at the same hotel) and probably more than happy to take over baby duty at points during the trip so John and I can visit local friends and on the off chance it's warm-ish I figure a stroller would be best.
This IS a great idea... If it works! It only worked for us once, but barely! On our flight back from Phoenix (4 hours), the guy in the middle had twins. Doh! Problem is that on a plane with 3 seats on each side has only 4 oxygen masks on each side... So you can only have one baby on each side, not two. So the airline had to find him and his wife, who had the other twin across the aisle, new seats.
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
We have this same bag and it works great. However, it doesn't fit ALL convertible car seats, so be careful about that. It does not fit our Britax Advocate 70 CS.
The bag above is so big that you can easily take the base, which is what we've always done. It fits into the car MUCH more securely. It was DH's call and since he carries/installs the seat, I'm fine with that.
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
Yeah, on our last flight, it *didn't* work for us. The flight wasn't even near full and there were TONS of other seats left and we even picked a row near the back but for some reason, this guy decided that he *really* wanted that one empty seat (out of at least 20 other empty seats on the plane) between MH and I.
I realized that he probably picked it because there was some space above our side of the row (because there was also another empty seat across the row from us) for carry-on luggage that he was able to fit his stuff in. So the key to make that trick work better is to make sure you pick a row with no more space for more carry-on luggage =P People like to sit with their luggage
boo. if there was lots of empty seats left i probably just would have politely asked him if he wouldn't mind moving so you could have more room for the baby.
i think it has worked about 30% of the time for us.... most of the time the flights are so full these days though, that's just how the airlines are doing things now
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog