suemo

Ok I know this is a long shot but....

Does anyone know if Air Canada will let you check a car seat for free when the kid isn't on the flight? The person bringing the car seat is travelling YHZ to YUL and I am travelling with the kid from YYZ to YUL.

Otherwise I would think they'd treat it like a regular piece of luggage and charge $25, right?

Thanks!

Eclipsepearl

I'm not sure about Air Canada specifically but globally, it's a piece of luggage if the child is not with.

My sister brought me a car seat from the U.S. once and was miffed when she got off the plane. "I thought car seats were free!" Ha ha... not for a single gal!

Car seat techs will urge you to use the original packaging when checking a car seat as luggage. If not, it's recommended to be boxed with some sort of padding material. Neither of those are a requirement but at least one airline's website says directly that car seats are not covered for damaged unless in the "factory sealed" box, so keep that in mind if you haven't bought the car seat yet.

I also recommend wrapping it in string and perhaps putting a little handle (even one just made of rope) on it so that it's less awkward to handle. A friend's dad did that for me once and it was really helpful.

lost*in*cyberspace

Actually, the checked bag fee is $28.25, unless you're traveling on a Flex or Latitude fare. I'd give it a try checking for free, but be prepared to pay the fee.

vicarious_MR'er

Yep, luggage fee. (and maybe even an oversized one?). If there's no child needing to actually use the seat, then it's for their purposes cargo/luggage and not a necessary child's item