Baby/Infant Car Seat

[tfmay]

Hi, looking for some advice before booking car hire for our xmas trip..... our little girl will be 13 months old so in a forward facing car seat by then, do we take our own as virgin will put in hold for free (although will it come out the other end undamaged....!!!) or do we hire as at least that way we know it will fit the car seatbelts etc.....and are they gauarnteed to have them if we pre-book/request it - we are flying into MCO

we were also wondering about the hassle of carrying it, wiating for it at airport etc etc, espwith 1 year old in tow...
thanks

[florida4sun]

I would take your own, I have done this many times with two seats and it was never a hassle.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by tfmay
Hi, looking for some advice before booking car hire for our xmas trip..... our little girl will be 13 months old so in a forward facing car seat by then, do we take our own as virgin will put in hold for free (although will it come out the other end undamaged....!!!) or do we hire as at least that way we know it will fit the car seatbelts etc.....and are they gauarnteed to have them if we pre-book/request it - we are flying into MCO

we were also wondering about the hassle of carrying it, wiating for it at airport etc etc, espwith 1 year old in tow...
thanks
[/quote]

[sundowner]

We take the seat for our granddaughter. My son and family have travelled back and forth between China/UK and Orlando with the seat and to date have had no damage. At least the little one will be comfy in her own seat and you know it is up to standard.

When you land the car seat generally comes off quickly but you have to wait for your cases anyway and if your daughter is in her pushchair it should all be ok.

[millie]

One note about taking your own. You must check for damage before you leave the airport. If you wait till you get to the car you may not be able to claim for compensation for damage. When you pick it up - check it and then if it has damage take it to the baggage services desk. Found this out the hard way when my pushchair was damaged a few years back. Now I always check it thoroughly.

[doaky]

When we first went out to Orlando approximately 4 years ago with our son who was 4 months at the time, we didn't hire a car. During our second week however we decided to rent a car from our hotel lobby car hire company however they didn't rent out rear facing seats. We then went to Walmart and bought a car seat for $40 before hiring the car to make sure we could get one. This car seat has now been back to Florida on another 4 occassions as our youngest has also used it for a couple of trips as we have always left our good one at home as it is part of the pram travel system.

Now we have the two kids, we always take our own (although take spare ones which are kept at home for use by grannies) and we have had no damage to either car seat. Most of our flights are from Edinburgh so connect via London so most of our trips involve 4 flights in total each time and we have been 8 times in the past 4 years. One thing I have always found useful is putting them in a black bin bag so if it is raining they will not get wet when being transported on and off the plane. Remember and always take a spare for the return journey too !

Our old rear facing bougfht in FLorida is now condemned to the dump only because both children have now outgrown it.

[tfmay]

thanks, think we'll take our own plus bin bags! Might take the spare one though from other halfs car as not as expensive as the one in my carthat gets used everyday!

the spare umbrlla fold buggy is coming along too, as last time my sister flew hers got damaged so not such a hardship if it does to a £40 one....

[DANESKA18]

Hi - Virgin usually give you very large clear plastic bags when you check in for your car seat (although they do normally have to search around for them) which are stronger and offer more protection than a bin bag. Take the bin bags with you but ask for a clear bag from the check in desk when you get to the airport. We have travelled many times with various car seats (having 4 kids!!) and have never had any problems regarding damage. Pushchairs, however, are a different story..............!!!

Have a good time.

[SteveL]

Hi

I thought I read somewhere that you should use a clear bag, so that security know what's inside and can see it all. That way they don't have to open it up to check the contents?

Just a thought.

Steve