Originally Posted by
altabello
It's not about the cost, which can be recovered. It's about NOT having a safe way to transport the baby home after getting to the airport. Many airports don't sell car seats, esp. not after hours. Next place to get one in this case was over 100 miles away.
That's definitely one of the arguments against checking a car seat.
I don't think I've ever heard of an airline keeping car seats at the airport in case they lose one that's checked as luggage. Most rental car stations keep a handful of car seats on hand, though. And I would think most US airports would have a Wal-Mart or something similar not too terribly far away. But I'm sure there are exceptions.