Should I take my carseat by plane to France or hire one with the car?

[CurleyShirley]

Hello all - the title pretty much says it all! We are going to France in October, DD will be 3 months. We are flying to Bergerac with Flybe and then hiring a car. What is the general consensus on whether we should tak eour own carseat (risk being damage during flight - particularly unseen?) or rely on the hire company - presumably they confirm to safety standards? Any thoughts/experience advice?
Thanks!

could you book an extra seat on the planefor your dd then she could sit in it on the plane, thats if flybe will allow it. i know british airways do cos i flew to scotland with my son.

I would ask the airline as I thought little babies were allowed to stay in their carseats.

I would recommend taking your own if you can. We have hired car seats before - Florida and France - and the seats given have not been good. In France we actually had to reject the first seat as it was so bad.

If you have paid for a seat for your baby you may be able to take the car seat on the plabe.

Otherwise wrap it in bubble wrap at the airport. They go one seperate to the cases, as oversized items. We have never had to pay extra for the car seat and they have not been included in our luggage allowance. However you will need to check with your airline about that.

You have to pay for their seat to do that, assuming it is the airlines policy at all, or hope that there is a spare and even then they can only use it during the flight , and be taken out for take off and landing. You should be able to take it as hand luggage and hold him though.

IME baby seats from car hire companies are poor quality. I would take your own especially for a baby.