anyone with lots of small kids checked in car seats on flights?

[Harrogatemum]

Hi all - I have twin boys aged 2 and a baby who will be 6 months old when we go to majorca in May.

The cost of hiring car seats is going to be about £100 for a fortnight on top of the car hire cost.......so I thought it might be more practical to take our own.

We are flying with JEt 2 who say that you can check them in up to 10kg in weight (dont know if that is per adult or what.....) but as we will have 3, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience of checking in kids/baby car seats and if you did how did you package them?

Thanks in advance!

I always take mine and I don't package them - they usually have to go on a sep conveyor belt to suitcases but I have never had a problem and I travel backwards and forwards from Cyprus regularily. I don't think they have ever been part of my weight allowance either.

Yes, we took ours last year with both Bmibaby and Ryan Air. We didn't package them at all, just put a luggage label onto them. We had to check them in separately as Outsize baggage, as they aren't suitcase size, but there was no excess charge for that, just means you have to queue up at a separate desk to hand them over, after you have sent your cases through. (Mind you, both of our kids were paying passengers by then, so we put them on as their piece of allowed baggage)

We saw the handlers loading them onto the plane through the airport window. (DS2 was most concerned that they might lose his seat!) Because they aren't square, all of the cases were put in first, then the seats went in on top.

Majorca in May is lovely. Have a great hol

great you have set my mind at rest.

Ooh I am interested in this question too; does the no charge thing include larger car seats? My ds will be 3.5 and 4 when we travel this year so he's got one of those huge car seats. Anyone?

we took our dd's booster cushion on easyjet to majorca in feb gone and it was fine just stuck a hand luggs ticker one..if the eldest have paid seats, they will be eligable for luggage allowance i should think and LO is required to have a seat or knee if you havent paid / go one for youngest..check it will fir on plane seat tho cos our booster wouldnt have if we needed it!

My children are 18 months and 4 so we have one of those HUGE britax seats and a booster seat (with back etc) and have no problems at all. I also check in a buggy.

and buggys can be taken right up to door of plane,s o can go on last meaning it shouldnt be squished

mmmm not such a positive experience buggys all the way to the plane. BA are very bad at saying you can do that and then changing their mind when you get to check in It's a real hassle when it's just me travelling with the children.

oh?easy jet were really good?, but it was feb and v.quiet?

I had a problem with Emirates and the buggy, we were flying to Australia with 5 month old twins and we had to carry them and all our hand luggage at both Dubai and Singapore airports as the buggy had to be checked all the way through, ridiculous. Had a much better experience when they were 18 months old with Singapore airlines, the buggy was in the tunnel at every stop ready for us....

and would also point out that just cos buggy's go in last, that doesn't mean that the baggage handlers don't jump all over them and kick them up & down the airport before putting them into the plane
(why yes, I have had a buggy trashed in transit - what makes you ask?! {grin})
I THINK all airlines don't count carseats as part of your luggage allowance - but might be worth rigning & checking. We've never had a problem with carseats...

Tamz - yes, one of ours was a big carseat and it went through fine. I was panicking, as the online info suggested that I could have been asked to pay something like £30 extra to take it, since it was larger than the specified sizes. I decided just to check it in and see, and they didn't charge us (or even measure it) at all. This was on a fairly quiet flight. Haven't tried taking them on a package holiday.