Easyjet: baby's car seat

[25F]

If you check in a car seat for a baby, is it free, or part of the chargeable baggage allowance?

[bondim]

I believe it is free. Check with airline though, just to be 100% sure. You can book over the phone if you want to speak with somebody.

Enjoy your fligth.

[25F]

Thanks. Not sure about phoning; it'd probably cost two quid just to get through to someone who would have no more information than what's on the web anyway, and who would err on the side of caution and recommend booking it in as checked baggage.

[jettesen]

They dont charge for car seats, thats in your free allowance for infants. If you wish to use it in flight, has to be a forward facing seat, have a 5 point harness with straps at least 1.5inches wide, and to be placed in a window seat. IT MUST FIT SNUG in between the armrests when placed down. But make sure the flight is not full before fitting it!!!!

[Nightrider]

Warning....most airlines do NOT allow to have one of these seats on board as they do not fit the measurements.
Warning....these seats will demand a seat for the baby and the seat, most airlines will charge you for that. As for most airlines a baby up to 2 years has to travel on an adults lap.....Their boarding pass shows INF and no seat.

Had my fair share with that as a father as well and see the issue on a daily basis on the airplane. It really depends on the airline if it is possible. As mentioned before, a telephone check is the only way to assure no bad surprises.

[DJFish]

Hi folks,
I don't fly often, whenever I do I always try to be the grey man in the corner, always on time, never any bother, just sit down, read my book, listen to my ipod and tune out the screamers, moaners, drinkers and pukers.

Now I have become my arch nemesis as I have become a parent!

Now either there's a bun in the oven or someone is on their last legs as a relative in Sicily has announced they're getting married with 4 weeks notice!
Naturally we're keen to attend just to see what all the fuss is about but we have an 8 month old bundle of joy to take with us.
Leaving her behind is not an option as we'd get lynched if we did, plus I'm keen to see the look on peoples faces as the wife has been telling the family that I'm a jaffa for the last 15 years to explain our lack of offspring....

Anyway if you've read this far perhaps you'd be kind enough to answer a few questions regarding kids on Easyjet;

We want to book a seat for the nipper and stick her in her car seat, quite happy to pay for it as we want our first flight together to be as stress free and comfortable as possible but her current car seat is 44cm wide and only has a three point restraint. Will that really be a problem?

We have the oppertunity to borrow a Maxi-Cosi Pebble, this has been certified by the TUV for air travel but again is 44cm wide and only three point restraint, is that still no good?

Any other handy hints for taking nipper from Gatwick to Palermo would be most welcome, I suppose we could just carry the banbino on our laps but I want it to be an enjoyable experience and I cant really see how a lap belt can be safer than a modern car seat....

Any advice would be gratefully received.

[750XL]

It is the accompanying person's responsibility to ensure that the minor is adequately secured into the aircraft seat. To this end easyJet will accept a car seat supplied by the accompanying person for any child over six months for whom an airline seat has been purchased, provided that the car seat has a rigid metal or plastic frame, is no wider than 42cm, includes lap, shoulder and crotch straps, and is upright and forward facing. The required restraint device for the age of the infant is detailed below:

AgeRestraint Device
2 weeks - less than 6 months Infant/extension seat/safety belt
6 months to less than 2 years Infant/extension seat or suitable car-type safety seat
2 years to less than 3 years Any suitable car-type safety seat or seat/safety belt
3 years or more Seat/safety belt

If an adult is travelling with more than one infant under the age of two years, but no less than six months, one infant may sit on the accompanying adult's lap and the other infant(s) must occupy separate seats and be seated in a car seat in accordance with the above table.
An adult with two or more infants aged six months or less cannot be accepted for travel.
A child between the ages of two and three years may be seated in a car seat in accordance with the above table.

Any help?

[DJFish]

It is helpful but I was hoping someone would come along and say that the regs regarding car seats were more guidelines than rules and that common sense would be applied........I suspect I may be disappointed.

[reportyourlevel]

We've flown loads with our little one (furthest was Manchester-Venice) and she's not yet two. We never bothered with a car seat, it'll probably cause more stress than you think it will save. It's hard enough getting through security with a baby, two pieces of hand luggage including a computer which needs removing and baby food that needs testing and a buggy. Add in a car seat and I think you're asking for trouble. (Most car hire places have child seats if you're renting at destination.)

Having the little one on your lap is no real problem (especially under a year old) although you may want to take turns. Make sure you have plenty of food, nappies etc. in case of delays and, of course, plenty of toys/books/whatever, but keep these as a surprise and use as sparingly as you can. If you can adjust baby's sleep pattern to coincide with the flight, that may help too!

[Gibon2]

Father of 3 kids under 5 here, and regular Easyjet user. I strongly endorse reportyourlevel's advice - for a kid of 8 months, it's much easier just to have her on your lap, especially if you can take turns with your wife. With kids of that age, the part on the plane is actually the easiest (at least for shorthaul flights): it's all the faffing about at airports that can be tough. Dragging a car seat around will just be a pain. You will have barely enough arms as it is.

I've found Easyjet crew to be excellent for travel with children: they know what the parents need, are very helpful and attentive, and always cheerful and supportive even when the little ones are howling/vomiting/pooing etc. You'll be in good hands.

You can take your stroller/buggy to the door of the plane, and it will then be stowed in the hold. On arrival, it generally shows up at the carousel with the rest of the baggage, but at some airports they will give it to you at the door of the plane (there's a thread on here somewhere about buggy policies of different airlines).

The only other thing I'd add to reportyourlevel's sound advice is to have something for your baby to suck on (dummy/pacifier, bottle, mummy's nipple...) during take-off and landing, as it helps to "pop" her ears and avoid pain from the change in air pressure.

Good luck!

[rethymnon]

it's some years since we've travelled with a baby but the following may be of some help.

1. if served a meal, ask for you and your wife to be served at separate times. one of you eats whilst t'other holds baby. we found staff were happy to help on this score- even on very full charters.

2. readily accept offers to 'hold the baby'; you'd be surprised how many people do offer to take him/her for a while.

[DJFish]

Thanks folks,
I think we'll follow your very helpful advice and take the nipper as 'carry-on'.

[man friday]

DJ Fish,

Used a Brittax Prince car seat a number of times with my youngest.
Can be secured with just a lapstrap and has a five point harness as required by most airlines, plus a narrow base so fits easily.It was less than 70 quid new from Halfords

Did a few long hauls and numerous short hauls on BA, Monarch and Easy with no dramas.Makes the flight more enjoyable for you as you can both eat/have the tray down and not need to worry about the seat infront reclining onto DJFish jnr.

Has the advantage that you don't need to hire a car seat at the other end if you're booking a car.

Other tip i can pass on is get an old adjustable luggage strap and 2 caribeaners.

This can be used -

to clip to the seat so you can sling it over your shoulder at the airport to carry it.

Secure the car seat to a regular seat at Cafe etc so youve got an instant high chair.

and best of all when all your bags/car seat are on the trolley you can clip one end to the front of the trolley,the other to the handle area and you have no fear of the bags dropping off!!

[DJFish]

Well we flew...and survived!

We ended up booking the extra seat after all as I was looking for a spare car seat for my four wheeled mid life crisis, so when we found one which also fit the flight regs we thought we'd give it a bash.
Plus we needed it at the other end for our hire car.

We used LGWs excellent new family security facility & had three grandparents with us so one extra bit of luggage was no bother and the addition of a luggage strap was a brilliant suggestion!

When we boarded we were told that nipper would have to be on a lap for takeoff & landing, plus the CC had a bit of bother strapping the seat in, I ended up doing it myself as they were a bit stretched.

Jnr ended up using the seat for about 30 mins but it was very useful to have a bit of extra space for all the extra gubbins we were carting with us.
She also only screamed for a few minutes, didn't seem affected by the pressure changes and did extremely well under the circumstances.
CC were very helpful warming food etc, on the whole a pretty successful trip.
I think I'd take the seat for anything over three hours, under that I probably wouldn't bother.

Thanks for all the advice!