Ryanair policy on older child car seats

[Beehatch]

Flying in August with Ryanair and we're thinking of taking the kids booster seats with us as the hire charge in Spain is fairly steep. Does anyone know if they will let us take these on for free?

I know, I know this is Ryanair right - would charge for the loo if they could get away with it. However I've trawled their T&Cs and they state (under the Checked Baggage section)

"One fully collapsible pushchair/double pushchair/travel system/baby sling per child plus one of the following items: car seat or booster seat or travelcot can be carried free of charge. Any other additional items of infant/child equipment (max weight 20kg per item) can be booked online at the rate of £10/€10 per item/per one way flight."

There does not seem to be a mention of the age of the child, and this is not specifically under the infant section.

So can we get away with it or will we be made to pay the £40 total? (which is still cheaper than hiring them out there)

Little bump

erm.. phone them and ask?

Well, yes that might seem obvious, but I can't get through to them due to 'unexpectedly high call volume' - I can't even get on the call queue.

Was just hoping someone here might have already experienced this.

How old are your DC? We use a Bubblebum with our DS. I just deflate it and put it in our luggage.

What age and what car seat? It's fairly easy to take the booster seat cushion as hand luggage - the t&c's you wrote out say booster seats are allowed.

just stick them in your suitcase (assuming not high back booster). Otherwise you need to pay the 'infant/child equipment' fee, which is cheaper than a bag.

Thanks, they are 4 and 7 and we were just wanting to take the bottom booster seats.

I have looked at the Bubblebum, but worry about it's safety. Also our baggage allowance (that we have booked so far) is pretty tight so we don't want to pack them. Even if they charge the extra £40 for child equipment it is still cheaper than adding extra baggage.

we've always just hired a booster for ds from the car hire people, we paid 3 euros a day for one in april.

Take trunki booster packs. A booster seat and backpack in one go so your DC can carry them.

Ours has been quoted as 7 euros per day and we need two of them! Car hire prices seen to be getting dearer every year . The insurance excess is crazy too.

I'm wondering if it's worth the risk of turning up with them at the airport and seeing if they get carried free. Otherwise I presume they will just charge us the 40, which is still cheaper than the hire fee.

Monarch allowed boosters for our 7 and 9 year olds this summer no problem - we just had to take them to oversized baggage to check them in.

Thanks Bert, I hope Ryanair are as accommodating. Although going on their past performance I'm not entirely trusting.

Those Trunki backpacks are a pretty expensive option (though less so if we do have to pay the 40 anyway). However I want to use the kids 10kg carry on to take most of their packing!