Flying with car seats - ideas for covers?

[griffini]

Hi
We are flying to the US for a 3 year stint in a few weeks. We'll be taking two hefty, expensive car seats as we like them and we need them there (not baby ones, for toddlers). Until now we have always hired carseats with the car so haven't had to think about transporting them. I don't want them to get mashed on the plane - last year we saw someone at the airport with a clear plastic cover for their carseat, thereby keeping all the straps/legs in and ensuring it arrived clean and altogether. Any ideas on where it came from? Or how to 'make' or adapt one?
Ta

Get them wrapped at the airport?

when we took our car seat on a plane we just wrapped it in 2 large strong black bags, then wound some brown tape round it, it meant there was nothing for it to get caught up on. May not have looked pretty but it turned up in one peice. If you could get clear sacks they may be better as handlers would see it was car seat and not sack of potatoes to be chucked on board!

If your carseat was wrapped, did the check in staff query what it was?

Ooh Lilymaid I looked up that bag wrapping - perfect! £6 a piece and job done
Thanks

Depending on who you fly with they may have big clear plastic bags

Bubble wrap is a good alternative

In the US they sell proper travel bags for them

Kiddicare do a MASSIVE car seat bag with a strap making even the most enormous seat easy to carry. We carry nappies in ours too as nobody ever checks them.

I think I'd go with the bubblewrap. We flew long haul with BA a few weeks go and had been advised not to wrap very expensive car seat as if unwrapped baggage handlers would know what it was and handle it carefully.

My arse! It turned up at LHR with the top part completly snapped off. God knows how they managed to do that. Will now no doubt spend the rest of the summer sorting out my claim

That Kiddicare bag sounds good, might look into that before our next trip

Sunshine Kids do a car seat bag similar to the Kiddicare one with straps - fits our group 0+ car seat perfectly

Does anyone know if a car seat can be taken as a carry on??

I'm too scared to check mine in since I don't trust the baggage handlers not to drop it from the plane onto the tarmac.