Charged for car seat on Easyjet

[Uptheduffy]

Hi, just having a moan really but I’d always heard how Easyjet make it easy for families by taking car seats in the hold for free. BUT have phoned to check and since ds is now 5 I will have to pay for an extra hold item - over £70 return in this case. I can see why they have an age limit for some things but there is no way a car seat becomes optional once a child turns 5! Will look into alternative airlines to see if any better

[Uptheduffy]

....Flybe, no problem at all, can still have two items for free (eg buggy and car seat) at five.

[MissConductUS]

For the airlines it's all about fees at the moment. That lets them advertise lower prices on the flight booking sites. Eventually they'll be charging for use of the toilet.

[AnneOfCleavage]

Can you not then just bring it into the seating area of the plane and let your son sit on his car seat in the plane seat. Wouldn't take up any extra room however you may need to adjust the seatbelt with cabin crews' help. Is that an idea you've not considered?

[Uptheduffy]

They won’t allow that.

[Uptheduffy]

I don’t want one from the car hire people as I’ve heard bad reports. Just seems mad to pay as much as a reasonable seat would cost tonhet new! Will check Flybe’s prices now - it’s a booking for a family of four at Christmas so not exactly cheap anyway.

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

WHAT? where did you see that? I thought it was free until 12! (Flying easy jet next month just after dd's 5th birthday and I assumed I could still check the car seat got free as I always have done until now!)

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

Flip! It is under 5:

www.easyjet.com/en/help/boarding-and-flying/flying-with-children

I'm sure it used to be under 12. I may have to rethink our plans!

[Uptheduffy]

I was looking it up and noticed it came under a general “under 5” heading so I phoned customer services. Perhaps if you phoned you would get a different reply! Or tweet them maybe? It would be quite an excess to pay at the airport!

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

Thank you for alerting me to this! I would have probably just turned up at the airport with it and ended up paying more for it than I would have done for the flight! It's a stupid age limit though when the law is minimum 12 years or 135cm (and is stricter in other countries). There will be very few 5 year olds who are 135cm!

[loopsdefruit]

Can you rent a car seat on arrival at your destination? Not sure if that would be cheaper, I assume you're hiring a car?

[loopsdefruit]

cross post sorry!

[Uptheduffy]

You’re welcome - glad my moaning was of some use! The other airline I mentioned define child as 2-11, which seems more sensible in terms of actually meeting the needs of a child. Most five year olds have grown out of buggies and travel cots: they haven’t grown out of needing a car seat.

[Neolara]

Has that just changed then? Because we fly EasyJet loads and we've never been charged for car seats for kids over, 5. Flew last in August.

[Uptheduffy]

Neolara what actually happens when you check in? Do they check the child’s boarding pass?

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

I think they must have recently changed as I've never seen the 5 year old restriction before and I've flown with them loads. But dd isn't 5 until next month so I might not have been looking for it. I've just checked ryanair and BA whom we are flying with next year and will definitely need to take the seat with us - both seem fine up until 12 years old.

[Neolara]

We check in our bags and say we have a car seat as well.. They label it up just like the other bags and off it goes. We usually fly from Luton, but have flown to numerous European destinations. It's exactly the same when we come back to the UK. No one has ever suggested we need to pay more.

[BrieAndChilli]

We flew with easyjet in June and took booster seats for our 6,8 and 10 year olds and they put them all in the hold for free!! They just printed us off stickers when we checked in our bags and we put them in the outsize bag check in place.

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

It must be a pretty recent change. It definitely says under 5 on the website now and I am sure it didn't use to say so. Really hope the other airlines do not follow suit!

[PurplePillowCase]

how about a bagpack booster seat?

it comes in very handy for playdates, stays with grandparents etc.

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

Although I'm not wild about the trunki boostapak i think I might buy one just in case one of our transfers turns up without a car seat and we're stuck (it's got to be better than nothing). But does anyone know if it is subject to the new backless booster seat regulations?

[TittyGolightly]

We love our boostapak! DD rode 2000 miles around America in hers over the summer. What’s not to like?

[Uptheduffy]

I can see the convenience factor (which is massive) but the answer to “what’s not to like” is the complete absence of any side impact protection which makes it more likely your child will be seriously injured if there is an accident. Hence why the law is changing. (We have been in an accident and were very grateful for dc1’s strong car seat)

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

My personal preference would be for a full high back booster seat with full side protection. The boostapak as I understand it lifts them up so that the seat belt is in the right position but it doesn't offer very much in terms of side protection.

[TittyGolightly]

Do you know how much car seats get thrown about in the hold? I wouldn’t want to use one that had been in there.

Odds of being in an accident are small (I haven’t had one in 23 years of driving all over the world). Yes, a full car seat is safer in an accident, but not if it’s been compromised by being dropped or banged about whilst in the hold!

[MaryWortleyMontagu]

My car seat is packed well and is well protected in a padded car seat bag. Yes there is still a risk, but to me it is minimal compared to the alternatives.