Car seats in baggage hold - advice please

[Songbird]

Hi, flying with Easyjet to Malaga next week and we?re taking our car seat (dd is 2). Will it be OK all on its lonesome, or should I bundle it up somehow? At the very least I?ll tape the straps down so they don?t get caught on anything. I?m a bit paranoid about baggage handlers ? the seat will be covered by insurance but that doesn?t help us either on hols or back home when we?ll need it straight away.

What do the wise old birds of mumsnet do about this?

Also, just thought, what about buggies? I?ve got a bag for it, but will it be counted as luggage or do buggies normally go extra? I can?t find anything on the Easyjet website.

uh oh, we're getting lost in 'unanswered threads' little post of mine.....

I went with bmi baby a few weeks ago. We had the carseat on the pram chassis. Counted as a luggage item but only one even though it had to separate to fold. Got put in the hold but at the side of the plane so not manhandled!

Where are you flying from?

We took our carseat and buggy when we flew Ryanair from East Midlands recently, and I just fastened the buckle and pulled the straps tight so they didn't get caught, and they took it (and others) as they were. We were told to check it in at the Fragile desk though, which was a relief.

The buggy was carried free of charge, not checked in so we could use it right up to the plane. Folded it up and left it at the bottom of the steps, and it was waiting for us on the tarmac when we landed.

having the same dilemma myself. have been advised by a friend to wrap seat in bag. intend to invest in a cheaper lightweight version to take just incase it gets lost and we then can't get home from airport! sorry no further help.

Thanks chaps.

French - we're going from Liverpool. I like the idea of the Fragile desk, I hope they have the same sort of thing there.

As a tip (you probably already know this, but I haven't flown for a good few years) - I saved a third on airport parking by booking online.

Have travelled loads of times on easyjet with carseat and buggy. Not from Liverpool though. Have never wrapped it just take it to large luggage/fragile (as directed by check in and they take it straight off you. Like everyone says, you take the buggy to boarding and they fold it at the bottom of the airline steps. A tip -make sure you go to front of queue when they call for boarding, as Easyjet ensure people with youngsters get on first and this is REALLY helpful.

I have just bought a carseat bag online for our flight to Australia. It was £14.99 on the GLTC website and if you link through this site you get a big 10% off.
HTH

Options are either - get a proper padded bag for it or stick it in a plastic bag

Plastic bag means they can see what it is and hopefully won't smash it. Also if it's raining on the tarmac it won't turn up soggy

We have flown quite a few times with one - it got damaged coming back from the US
Insurance paid up minus the excess = 50 quid

Thanks, I've got a bag for the buggy - I presume I can use this if I wheel the buggy up to the steps?

I think I'll leave the carseat as it is. Dh suggested putting it in a bag but I thought they might be more likely to throw it around if they don't know what it is!

Hopefully they'll have a 'fragile' desk in L'Pool.

I would wrap car seat in bubble wrap. BA broke our car seat..........