Packing a booster seat in a suitcase - stupid idea?

[YouMightKnowMe]

Here's teh deal...hiring a car with Hertz from Barcelona airport and I have booked a child seat (booster seat/highback). They are going to charge me nearly £60.

We are travelling with Easyjet so pay for any luggage we put in the hold...but to pay for an extra 20kg it will cost us £18. So if I stick her current booster in a holdall and put it in the hold it will cost us £18 (and as it doesn't actually weight 20kg will give us extra luggage allowance which we could use for clothes etc).

Is this a stupid idea? The only downside I can think of is the risk of holdall with booster in getting thrown about in the handling and damaging the seat? Other than that it all seems like pluses and we know exactly the condition of the seat we will be using.

I have alos already booked my car but I think that the cancellation policy will allow me to make changes without charge.

How about something like this?

Although it's not very cheap, at least you might use it again.

Or just put your own booster seat into a ruck sac?

I've done this several times, much cheaper than paying for Hire Car one. Booster seat very, very unlikely to be damaged in transit.

We used to take our own car seats to the US. But we were travelling with Virgin and didn't have to pay anything extra.

that boostapak is a bloody excellent idea....although costly.

You haven;t said how old your DC is, however we have always taken our own seats and once the kids were old enough just used the standard plastic Britax booster seats which fitted into our holdall, which we also packed with clothes. They are tough and never got damaged.

TY

DD is 4 - but she is a very diddy 4. She is only just big enough for a highback/booster but that is the only option we have for hire anyway as she is too tall for the booster seats they offer. If we hire we might or might not get a full highback rather than just a booster as it doesn't specify on booking. If we travel with ours we would probably only take the booster but if we keep weight down on clothes might be able to take the highback part - although there is a risk that it doesn't fit all cars so would be wasted. We don;t expect to travel far so I might just compromise with the booster for a few days.

We have to pay for everything we put into the hold with easyjet (by weight)....but we are planning on maxing out on hand luggage - as the booster seat is quite light compared to the equivalent volume of clothes it actaully makes it cost effective to put it in a holdall in the hold as part of out checked baggage.

We did this once and our bag arrived four days later... so that is a consideration.

oh yes.....but then I suppose that if I get desperate i find the nearest toys r us or equivalent and buy one....or hire one at the rental office (I don't actually pay for it until then anyway....although they only "guarantee" that they will have one if we reserve in advance)

I have been trying to get a Boostapak but they are out of stock.

We pack a booster cushion in our luggage - have done it in hold and carry on luggage with no problems. I pack clothes around it, which would protect it if dropped or whatever. Also, I think the risk of being knocked about is far less for a booster cushion than for the first stage seats.

We always take our own car seats and just wrap them in a black bin bag at the airport. We have never been charged and I don't think that even Easy jet count car seats as luggage.

We took EasyJet to Sardinia last year and was able to take pram, carseat and travel cot (pop up thing) at no extra cost

Check the website you shouldnt have to pay.

I'd always take my own car seat- there are awful stories on here about crap/dirty/broken ones.

We've got some very light weight booster seats that we put in our hand luggage. We've even got away with this several times on Ryanair flights and they're far stricter than Easyjet.

Definitely a good idea. I'm always worried that the car hire companies say they can never guarantee a car seat even if you book it in advance plus their costs are extortionate.

Have just come back from a holiday in Majorca and I would definitely advise taking your own booster seat. We have two DS's - one is 2.5 and the oher is 4.5yr old. We paid 60 euros (!!!!) for the hire of two seats - and both were disgusting and flimsy - in fact the seat for 4yr old DS was just one of those very very basic polystyrene boosters! Next time we will be taking our own!!!

I ordered one of those Boostapaks and then sent it back when I'd seen it. I'd envisaged dd carrying it as her carry-on bag, but it was too big and heavy for her (she is 8 but tiny, think 6). We decided it was easier for her to carry her own little backpack with her stuff in it, and to put her (small, lightweight) booster seat in our holdall.

We've got 3 dc, so we're taking 2 booster seats in a holdall on the plane, and ds2 is 2 so he is allowed his carseat to sit on, on the plane.

We've always taken our own car seats, including packing a booster in our luggage. Never had any problems, and we've done lots of long and short haul flights.