Taking your own Child Car Seat

[ujpest doza]

We hired a rather dirty milk stained car seat from Alamo on our last trip in May this year, and after being charged $5 per day for the privelige are seriously considering taking our own when we go in March.

As we will be driving to Manchester we will have the seat with us, but it won't be packaged up. I have been told on another forum by someone who travelled from Newcastle that they did not need to package it up, but got it labelled at the check in desk in the same way that you would get a buggy/stroller labelled. They then could either take it with them to the gate or take it to another desk for large luggage items.

Is this the same at Manchester?

[MandyfromSheffield]

We've flown from Gatwick and Birminhgam taking our own car seat. It was the same procedure each time, the car seat was tagged at the check in, then we handed it in at the oversize baggage counter, it then came out with the rest of our baggage at our destination.

[ujpest doza]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by MandyfromSheffield
We've flown from Gatwick and Birminhgam taking our own car seat. It was the same procedure each time, the car seat was tagged at the check in, then we handed it in at the oversize baggage counter, it then came out with the rest of our baggage at our destination.
[/quote]

Did you need to package it up in say a bin liner or did you just hand it in as is like a buggy?

[MandyfromSheffield]

Sorry I realised I hadn't actually answered your question, no you don't have to package it up, you can't really as I guess like us your child will travel to the airport in it.
Cheers

[ujpest doza]

Smashing thanks.

My only misgiving was them losing it on our return and us being stranded at manchester airport at 5am on a sunday without a car seat.

Think i'll just go ahead and do it now and save the $70 + tax i had to pay in May.

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

We always take our own car seats after using the car hire companies ones on our first trip with children and having an upset child all the time as the seat was unfamiliar, uncomfortable and not as clean as we would have liked.

We just take the seats to the checkin desk and ask for them to be put in a clear plastic bag so it keeps the seats clean and dry. As a parent I would certainly advise anyone travelling with children to take their own seats.

[jolliffee]

We take one with us too; just get it tagged and hand in at oversize. Good idea about getting the bag from check in, must do that next time.[msnsmile2]

[pieman790]

We have taken our seat several times now. The last few times my two year old has used it on the plane so we never loose it.
We did take it for our older child a few years ago and British Airways did loose it as it went into the hold but as soon as we arrived at Manchester they gave us a brand new one to use until ours was found. When they delivered our lost one they collected the new one. Great service from BA.
We like to use our own, as we know that its not damaged nor has it been invloved in any accidents, something you dont know if you hire one.

[linda allen]

We have used Alamo seats a few times. Mostly they were ok, but once our 2 year old was very upset every time he went in the car. We checked the seat and to our horror there was a piece of plastic which was quite sharp jutting out into where his back would be when seated. So I would never use their seats again.
On our last visit we decided we would buy our own. They cost about $35 from Walmart, so were cheaper than hiring them.
We have got 2 young boys who require car seats so taking the seats with us as well as all the luggage was a bit difficult.

[jad]

we used to take our car seats, no problem, sometimes the airports put them in bags, sometimes not.
If you can figure a way how to do it though we were really impressed with the value for money of booster seats in the US - with drinks holders and toy nets at a very good price

Jackie