We are going on our first little family vacation next month from Michigan to California to visit friends. It's a 4 hr flight and I made sure to book a non stop flight. Any suggestions? Also, how should I go about bringing both LO's car seat and stroller? We have a travel system but I wasn't sure they would let us check both at the gate? I am hesitant on checking the car seat with our luggage because I have seen the luggage people throw them very carelessly when loading and unloading before. I considered renting a car seat from the car rental place but am nervous about that as well. Any ideas? And do I need to bring the base of the car seat? Any and all suggestions are welcome!
Re: Airplane Travel With LO
I believe you can use most car seats without the base, I just didn't have time to look it up and I was traveling with my family so I knew I'd have enough people to carry the base around.
There was no problem traveling with the whole system but TSA took freaking forever to clear it through the X-ray machine, they had to swab all the parts and apparently the guy who was solely responsible for that was on break. So just make sure you give yourself plenty of time for security screening cause it takes a little longer.
I brought our travel system with us, checked the stroller at the gate, and brought the car seat on the plane for him to ride in. If you're carrying LO, I wouldn't check the car seat with your baggage...bring the whole system with you and gate check it (confirm that they can gate check it ahead of time), and bring a bag for the car seat to keep it from getting crud all over it.
We did not bring the base because our car seat can be secured without it...you'll have to check your specific one to be sure. Most of them can be. Definitely try it out before you go so you know what you're doing! If you have a seat for LO, check to see if you can bring the base on the plane. I called our airline ahead of time and they actually recommended that the base NOT be used because the bases tended to be wider than the plane seats, or something to that effect, and it became challenging to get the seat secured with the base and the lap belt extender.
I would not rent a car seat since you have no idea if it's actually safe or not.
Like PP said, make sure you leave a lot of time for security. Also, if you have a carrier, wear LO through security...if they're in a soft-sided carrier you don't have to take them out to go through the x-ray. I wore Bubs and pushed the stroller with my carry on sitting in it up until it was time to get on the plane...then I moved him to his car seat.
Also, if you're able to pick your seat, I think it helped to sit in the back of the plane. We were the last to deboard, but that was fine because I had plenty of time to get everything back in order, and it made it a really painless process. When you board, ask the flight attendant while bathroom has a changing table in it (sometimes only one of them does).