your thoughts please as I'm all undecided...

[mckenzie]

We are flying to Lyon at the weekend for a skiing holiday and taking DS with us. We'll be driving from Lyon to our resort in a friend's car.
DS is nearly 3 although fairly small for his age.

So, do we check his car seat as baggage (we know for sure that it will fit our friend's car),
do we take the car seat on the plane with us (reducing risk of damage perhaps),
do we hire a car seat when we get to Lyon (is it possible to hire just a car seat if you're not hiring a car I wonder?) or
do we take one of those padded next stage car seats?

If we do take the car seat and check it as baggage, will it have to come out of our allowance (Easyjet flights)?

Any thougths gratefully received.

Take it and check it in. You might be allowed to take it on board but it may not fit as the seats can be narrow, although friends have brought out booster cushions this way. Some airports will vacuum seal it for you for a few pounds which stops the baggage handlers hurling it around by the straps, or use bubble wrap and parcel tape. You put it through Oversized Baggage rather than down the normal conveyor and it actually gets handled better too.

It would be a real hassle to try to hire one and don't know if any car hire firm would w/out a car. Even a next stage seat would be bulky. Presumably your ds has a seat and therefore an allowance and it would only be a few kgs. If the flight is not full they will probably waiver it but a w/end ski flight could be full.

Mckenzie, Easyjet state:

It is the accompanying person's responsibility to ensure that the minor is adequately secured into the aircraft seat. To this end easyJet will accept a car seat supplied by the accompanying person for any child over six months for whom an airline seat has been purchased, provided that the car seat has a rigid metal or plastic frame, is no wider than 42cm, has a four point harness and is upright and forward facing. The required restraint device for the age of the infant is detailed below:

Age Restraint Device
2 weeks - less than 6 months Infant/extension seat/safety belt
6 months to less than 2 years Infant/extension seat or suitable car-type safety seat
2 years to less than 3 years Any suitable car-type safety seat or seat/safety belt
3 years or more Seat/safety belt

They allow this on top of your measly 20kg baggage allowance per person

I couldn't find anything on the Easyjet website so thanks very much for the quote countessdracula and thanks Lizs. I think we might go for the 'check it and see' option as I just know that DS will be grumpy if he's sitting in his car seat for 2 hours.

Just heard that it was minus 20 some nights last week in the resort where we are staying! I hope DS likes his new thermal long johns!!

Mckenzie it's here - under the Baggage and Infants and Unaccompanied Minors sections.

HTH!

Good point. If you have a longish car journey the other end it might be as well if he was less constricted on the plane.

Quite probable that it has been that cold. Temperature here (Zurich) is only about freezing this morning. Very odd and variable weather atm -yesterday intermittent heavy snow, rain or bright, today glorious sunshine but still freezing cold. It was forecast to get warmer towards the weekend so you never know !

Hope you have a great time.

well guys, thanks for all your messages last week. We put the car seat through as fragile baggage and you could tell from the state of the box that it had been well handled so no problems there at all. Just a shame about our buggy really. Landed at Stansted 9.15pm, as we disembarked we could see our buggy, not 30 feet from where we were standing on the tarmac but we weren't allowed to take it with us, had to collect it with our luggage. Off to the baggage hall (luckily DS was so excited by his flight that he was no trouble walking along with his little trolley). Luggage arrived, fragile parcel arrived but no buggy. Waited and waited, eventually told it must be in Lyon still (this after we'd told them that we saw it on the tarmac at Stansted) and so we filled in a missing luggage form. Buggy arrived today by courier and yes, you've guessed it, it's now broken!!

You couldn't make it up could you?

who did you fly with? With some you sign to say you wont claim against them. I am battling at the mo with Easyjet. Sods

Easyjet as well. But the company that I'm dealing with now is Groundstar and I assume that as they are taking the buggy back (I called them today once I realised it was broken and they are coming to collect it on monday to repair or replace) they have admitted liability. Luckily I have a second pushchair though to use in the meantime huh?

Sorry to hear you are having problems though collision.

It is just irritating because Easyjet want a quote for the damage and I am finding it difficult for the manufacturer to give it to me and they keep redirecting it. It is only the handle that is broken and I can use it but I might just claim the money and not fix it!! Ryanair make you sign a waiver to say you wont sue!!

Did you have a good holiday though?

we had a fantastic time, thank you for asking. DS loved skiing (if you can call it skiing) He's not quite 3 so it was a bit early to take him but he loved having his own skis and boots amd we just took it in turns to hold him between our legs and obviously only went on the nursery slopes. HE loved it though, shouted "faster, faster" all the time or "race me mummy", and loved the button lift. DH and I have back ache now from bending over to hold him but it was so worth it. And luckily for me DH decided that he'd been working too much recently and needed to spend some time on his own with DS so i got to ski every afternoon on my own (proper skiing that is).
The weather was perfect and all in all, a great holiday.

Oooh. Lovely. Im not sporty at all but I do love skiing and I think we might go next year. DS will be 3 and there will be a new baby too so it would be perfect for ds and dh to go off and ski together. I can sit and drink mulled wine for a week!!