baby bunching Q/A: carseat logistics when traveling

In honor of kicking off summer vacation season this Memorial Day weekend, this question came from Buncher Jen as a follow-up to our post on traveling by air with your Bunch. 

Q:  We have a bunch of 3 (with 33 months between them). The oldest is 4.5 (in a booster) and the youngest are 2.5 & 1.5 (in convertibles). We are flying nonstop from Austin to Seattle & bought tickets for the 4 & 2.5 year olds and the youngest is a lap child. Do I really need to take all 3 carseats? For the longest part of our trip, we will be with family who can loan us all but one carseat so my temptation is to take only one convertible. However, what do I do for the last leg of our trip when we will be in San Francisco for the weekend without the family? I'm not exactly comfortable putting all 3 kids in the back of a cab without carseats, but is that a better alternative than spending an hour doing public transportation when it is a 15 minute cab ride? Also, are there legal requirements for children in the back of a cab? Maybe they're required to be in a carseat (in which case we can only take minivan cabs)? I'm really conflicted about how to handle the carseat situation and would appreciate any advice you might have. I hate to think about traveling with 3 little ones, 3 carseats, 2 strollers, luggage, etc. 

A: This is a complicated situation, and yet we experienced an almost identical one when we traveled last Christmas. I'm going to answer it the way I tackled it and perhaps others can chime in with alternatives. First of all, given the age of your middle child, I would consider bringing a car seat for that child on the plane because 2 1/2 is a difficult age to control and keep still on a long flight.  I always found with my kids at that age that it was easier just to to tell them they had to be buckled in just like in the car - that way it kept them from going crazy and wanting to squirm around like fools on the plane.  

The booster for your oldest child is actually quite lightweight and not that big of a deal to bring (maybe you don't need it on the plane, but you might as well bring it on the trip). And if your child is big enough--height wise--you might just bring the seat-only part of the booster. When we traveled with two boosters this past Christmas, we were able to fit both of them in one car seat travel bag and check them - it was way less hassle to carry them than I thought it would be.  Most airlines are not SUPPOSED to charge you for checked carseats - however, we experienced much confusion on the part of both gate agents and curb check both going both there and back.  One of them was going to charge us $25, but for my husband's frequent flier status, which allowed us to squeak through.  So check the charges with your airline first and get to the aiport WAY early both ways so that you can mess with the confusion that a checked car seat inevitably causes.  If you brought all 3 seats, you just have to check the baby's and you can bring the other 2 on the plane (we always just strapped a seat to each of our backs or tied to stroller somehow).  

In answer to your cab question, yes - California requires car seats in cabs.  Conversely, BART (subway) and MUNI (bus) do not - but as you pointed out, public transportation and your Bunch is a whole 'nother ball of wax.  I have heard that some cab companies DO furnish car seats, if you call in advance and request.  But I've never tested that out myself - maybe another reader has and would be willing to share?  

What it boiled down to for us was bringing all 3 car seats.  Between our 2 cars and 3 children, we have approximately 17 car seats of every type, so we always just select the lightest, narrowest, easiest to install ones for when we travel.  I'm not sure what your San Francisco plans are (are you visiting places where you can just take the car seats out of the cab and leave them at the front of the Children's Museum while you tour or are planning on hiking Fisherman's Wharf with 3 car seats strapped to your back), but my guess is that with 3 kids these ages, you're not going to "do" San Francisco at the breakneck pace that you would if you were just with hubby. So car seat logistics are just gonna have to be part of the plan. Sucks.  On the bright side, we lived in San Francisco for a summer when my kids were just the ages of yours and it is an FABULOUS place with so much to see and do (even for kids).  I'm willing to bet that even factoring in a few car seat snafus, you will have an amazing trip.  Good luck and have fun!

Comments

[MommyNamedApril]

oy. and this is exactly why we don't travel by air.

[Jenny N]

We are traveling by air with our bunch of just 2, and we are renting a car, even for the short trip. That way the seats are always strapped and housed safely in the vehicle, and we don't have to worry about taxis or public transportation in an unfamiliar city. Good luck!

[Lori]

Whenever we fly with kids we always gate check our car seats. It can be a pain to lug them through the airport, but they are guaranteed to be there when we get off the plane. It would suck to be stuck at an airport if your car seats were sent off to the bahamas while you're in Chicago.

[Molly]

We refuse to gate check carseats since I don't want my seats lost or damaged in transit, especially when I may not see the damage. We buy both kids (even the baby) a ticket and take their seat along. Besides being safer on the plane (no, a carseat will not save them falling out of the air but it might on the runway where most crashes happen) it gives them a familiar, comfortable, TIED DOWN place to be and they're so much easier to deal with. We have a radian that folds and has backpack straps and a scenera that weighs only 9 lbs and we attach it to a rolling suitcase with the latch strap and a couple of carabiners and use it as a stroller through the airport. For your 4 1/2 year old I'd look into skipping the booster and getting a ride safer travel vest instead for traveling. More secure and much easier to pack.

[LanaWong31]

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[Jen]

Thank you for all the suggestions! I think we are going to gate check all 3 seats using the car seat bags with shoulder straps. If we learn anything that would be useful, I'll post a comment after the trip! Thanks again.

[Jen]

One other thing - I did check with our airlines and there should not be any fees for the carseats. Alaska Airlines allows one carseat for each traveling child (ticketed or not). Southwest allows you to substitute a carseat for one of your two free checked bags. Just in case that is useful info to anyone else!