car seat protector for cargo area on plane?

[ejg123]

It seems like our car seat will have to go in the luggage area of a plane, but we are concerned with damage. Are there padded/protected car seat covers for this sort of situation? Thank you for your wisdom.

[leighi123]

I would not check it in.  Why do you feel you HAVE to?   Its much safer to install it and use it on the plane.   If you have a "lap-child" and dont want to buy a ticket, then gate check the seat.  If you have an infant seat and are flying on a larger plane you can put it in the overhead bin (Ive only done this with a snugride, it fit fine).  

Or if someone is picking you up from the airport buy a seat online and have it shipped to them to bring for you.   

I travel A LOT and my dad travels even more (he is on a 3 week trip around the world right now, and does this maybe 5-6 times a year), and I have seen how our baggage is treated.  Plus the number of bags that have come back all beat up, torn, smushed, missing things, sent to the wrong place, and lost altogether.  NO WAY would I EVER check a carseat in as baggage, its not worth the risk

[ejg123]

So you think it is fine to gate check it and it will not get damaged? I actually meant that we would gate check it, but I was still concerned that it would not be well protected enough. This is our last trip with him as a lap child - from now on he will have seat/ticket, but the plane is full and so we have to gate check the seat which does concern me. Would you still put a cover and protector on it at the gate check? Does anyone know of any good ones with padding? Thanks!

[mama2soren]

Do you have the option of having a car seat waiting for you at your destination?  If you're visiting friends or family, could you buy a Scenera online ($45) and have it shipped there?  

Gate checking is a better bet than checking it with your regular baggage, but there is no guarantee that it will not be damaged, even with a protective bag.  If there is anyway to avoid gate checking, do it.

[snoopy5386]

You have to use your own judgement on this one. We have a carseat bag that protects the seat but doesn't really offer any padding. You could use bubblewrap to pad the seat I suppose. Yes, luggage gets dropped. However carseats are not made of glass and should be able to withstand some wear and tear. I just bought a Complete Air from diapers.com and it came in a cardboard box - no styrofoam, no padding of any kind, just the seat inside the box. I assume that the box was dropped, juggled, stacked, etc. on its journey to me and I know the cardboard box it came in does not have magical powers of protection. I'm still using the seat.

[TiredX2]

I would feel fairly safe with gate checking.
 

Originally Posted by mama2soren 

Do you have the option of having a car seat waiting for you at your destination?  If you're visiting friends or family, could you buy a Scenera online ($45) and have it shipped there?  

Gate checking is a better bet than checking it with your regular baggage, but there is no guarantee that it will not be damaged, even with a protective bag.  If there is anyway to avoid gate checking, do it.

They are on sale at Target for $35 this week if you go with this option.
 

[ejg123]

Thanks all. We found a cover that was somewhat padded and gate checked it. Not perfect but good enough. Thanks for the feedback. All the best -