Help - Car seats for Car hire

[Cookiemonster13]

Hoping to get some advice for car seats for travel. I’ve booked a holiday with Jet2 which comes with included car hire. Rang them to add car seats and they said you can’t reserve car seats subject to availability on the day. I can’t risk not having a car seat and there answer is to bring two with me.

i have two children a 6 year old and a 4 year old. 4 year old needs a harness still.

chatGPT has recommended the Maxi Cosi Nomad XL Plus for 4 year old and a the trunki boostapak for 6 year old. I’m leaning towards getting the nomad for both as would prefer a high back booster for six year old.

it feels like whatever I choose I’m trading safety for portability although the quality of car seats provided from car rental companies is dubious.

Are there any others I should consider?

also worried that if I have to check in they could get damaged in transit. Has anyone flown with the nomad?

thanks all

How annoying. Have you checked to see if anywhere hires out baby/child equipment near the destination airport/car hire place?

No that’s a good idea though so will have a look to see if that’s an option. I am shocked that Jet2 would not let you request hire in advance must be a common question they have to deal with but suppose they outsource it all.

Jet2 will let you bring car seats in the hold for no extra charge. We didn’t package similar to yours and I just got car seat bags and took my own. I think the hire ones could be hit or miss.

I have found a company called tots store but worry in case they would be unreliable. Can’t see many reviews

How tall and heavy is your 4yo? Nomad XL is approved up to 18kg/105cm on the harness.

If you need more than this you could look at Cosatto On The Go which is similar but uses isofix + top tether, the height limit is still 105cm but the weight goes up to 20kg. Price approx the same.

There is a very similar model on the continent called Kinderkraft Fix2Go, doesn't seem to be sold in the UK but could get delivered to an amazon locker at the airport. This is significantly cheaper at about €109 and essentially has no weight limit on the harness (but 105cm height limit) because the seat itself is so light.

Or Cozy n Safe Hudson is 25kg harness, no height limit and fairly lightweight but doesn't fold up at all so could be a pain to transport. This is about £100 so a good bit cheaper.

For your older one Maxi Cosi do have a folding high back booster called Tanza i-size which is much cheaper than the Nomad (about £80) and lighter because it doesn't have the harness. I would go for this over a seat which has a harness mode if you're not going to use the harness.

Folding car seats tend to do better in transport, because they don't have wobbly parts which can get bashed around and it's also much easier to wrap them in bubble wrap (or clothes/blankets/towels) for protection.

If it's Spain and you are interested in ERF you can get this more easily, weirdly enough.

For example: https://www.spainbabygearhire.es/es/Alquilar-para-Bebes-y-Ninyos/Alquiller-sillas-de-coche/