Taking car seat on holiday

[Jasmum]

We're off to Portugal soon with DD1, I want to take her car seat & check in as luggage. Does anyone know if this is included or additional to normal luggage allowance?
Also, can you get a cover for them, if not, what do you cover it with?
All advice gratefully received!

[Jasmum]

We're off to Portugal soon with DD1, I want to take her car seat & check in as luggage. Does anyone know if this is included or additional to normal luggage allowance?
Also, can you get a cover for them, if not, what do you cover it with?
All advice gratefully received!

[Grizzly]

When we went to spain this year we checked in the car seat and it was weighed as part of the total baggage allowance. It was only an infant carrier so it wasn't too heavy, but someone in front of us checked in a larger child seat which weighed quite a lot. The pushchair was not weighed. Some airlines may differ - you should ring yours and check to avoid nasty excess baggage surprises. If it's a low cost airline or charter the car seat will almost certainly be additional.

[toddlerbob]

Seat usually counts as luggage, if you have paid for her seat you may be able to take it on the plane and sit her in it, and then it doesn't count.

Prams and wheelchairs are usually free even on the cheapest airlines, but there is bound to be an exception. Who are you flying with? Maybe someone else has used them recently and can help you.

[prufrock]

We flew with ds's baby car seat recently (brittania) and it wasn't included in allowance - wasn't even weighed. We checked it in and had to take it to the outsize baggage area ourselves, but if we'd wanted we could have carried it to the plane and had it put i the hold with teh buggies.

[SofiaAmes]

It depends on the airline, but everyone I've flown on (including Easyjet) didn't count it as part of the luggage allowance. The car seat and buggy were free extras.

[Gem13]

We put our infant one in a clear plastic bin bag which we got from one of the airport shops (for free I was feeling in a bold and cheeky mood!). Would do that again as it meant it kept clean.

Would also recommend a cotton cover for your car seat. We bought one by Maxi Cosi for both the infant one and the bigger one. I'm sure it's much nicer for the children to have their heads against that in hot weather than the regular nylon fabrics.

[bambi06]

ive travelled numerous times and have never had seat weighed but just put through outsize baggage ..no questions asked! i do wonder whether it is to do with airline, however in the last year weve hired from car company out there as a lot of them that weve used are free ..or negligeable (?) amount. ant theyve been excellent ,in fact the one we used last month was brand new with tags on them and there were loads to choose from