Originally Posted by
AussieExPat
If it were me I would want to at least keep the car seat in the box to have the insulation protecting it from the wrath of the baggage handlers. Having said that, I've checked my children's spare car seat on a few occasions with no apparent damage. Is there anyway you could order the seat online and either have it shipped to their house or pick it up locally upon arrival?
This...or buy a padded bag specifically for car seats. We have a J.L. Childress one for our infant seat and it seems to have great padding (and assuming you are bringing an infant seat, lots of room for other stuff if you need it...I'm sure one of the bases plus other stuff would fit no problem. Plus has knapsack straps so we can carry through the airport easily when gate checking it, which is what we always do. Of course, we travel with the infant as well
While bringing it through the airport is kind of a PITA, we figure it's a lot less of a PITA then it being delayed, which I hardly would've worried about 6 months ago, but since March, three round-trips at least one bag hasn't shown up on time in 3 of the 6 directions. But probably not as big a deal for you for that.
Good luck.