How do you get car seats through the airport?
Regardless of whether you take car seats onto the plane, you still have to get them through the airport. Most large “convertible car seats”/“3-in-one car seats” don’t fit in a stroller like the baby bucket seats do, so you’re left with these giant, heavy, un-wheeled & unwieldy hunks of plastic and metal to schlep around alongside the rest of your luggage… Here are some options that can help:
1. Separate roller carriers
These effectively convert your car seat into a stroller that gets pulled behind you. It is quite easy to attach (you slide a ratcheting strap through the car seat) and it rolls well with kids in, with luggage in, or with nothing in. If you’re checking the car seat at the luggage counter, just leave the roller thing attached and put a big plastic bag around it all (often provided by the airline or you can bring your own). If you’re taking the car seat on the plane, the roller thing simply slides back off, and then you can compress it flat and short to fit in the overhead bin – easy peasy. This can be a great option if you’re not taking a stroller (or you’re checking a stroller but want the car seat on the plane). Kids (or luggage) can be put in the stroller and wheeled around the airport super easily– and if kids fall asleep on the plane in their carseat, it makes for a very easy way to transport them through the airport on the other side. Do be sure that you’ll have enough hands to pull it (or them) though through the airport along with your other bags… If you have a rolling bag for Parent A, a rolling bag for Parent B, a rolling bag for Kids 1 & 2, and two car seats that you need to convert to pull, you need five hands and only have four (unless one of your kids can help). Go-go-babyz Mini Travelmate Seat Adapter has worked great for us; others can be found on Amazon searching for “car seat roller for airport”.
2. Attach your car seat to a suitcase with a strap.
This helps with the “number-of-hands” problem sometimes encountered by the separate roller carriers – and they’re much cheaper too (~$8-$13!). Using straps is about as simple as it gets: you buy a car seat strap, feed it around a roller bag (usually of carryon size, but bigger is ok too) and through the car seat, and then tighten it. The car seat is now attached to your luggage and when you wheel your luggage, the car seat goes along for the ride. If you’re able to get it really tight, your kids can sit in it while it’s attached and get wheeled around the airport. These straps roll up really small and can easily fit in your carryon (or be shoved into your checked luggage) …to be unrolled and used when you get to your destination. Note that these straps work better on luggage that isn’t hard-shelled because there’s more ability to ratchet it tighter and compress the bag (so they stay higher up on the bag and don’t drag on the ground). They can still be used on hard-shelled luggage, but it’s just harder to get it really tight. We converted to the strap option once we were lugging three car seats around and ran out of hands. Here are some examples from Amazon: orange, black. (If those links get outdated, just search for “car seat travel belt”)
3. Use a big stroller
If you have a big, strong stroller (like a Double Bob) and you’re going to check the car seat(s), and your kids can manage to walk to the check in counter, then you can always pile a car seat or two ON the stroller. It might look a bit ridiculous and unwieldy, but it can totally be done. I wouldn’t try to have my kids also ride in the stroller for fear of the car seats toppling on them, but if the kids can walk, this method is doable for a short-ish distance. Then, when you arrive at your destination and pick up your luggage/car seats at baggage claim, usually you can just pile the car seats on a cart, or wheel them out on the stroller again… whichever works best! Pro tip: you may want to test this pile-on-stroller strategy out at home before you go to be sure you can get it all balanced.
If this all seems too cumbersome, and you’re dreaming of traveling without giant car seats, you may want to check out my post on alternatives to car seats…
Good luck!
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