spearsba

A few years back on a flight into IAD, UA broke my daughters car seat in half, it had been gate checked. The baggage office gave us a replacement that was similar. It was not new, but I am guessing one that was "lost" by another passenger.

Regarding baggage handlers and pax watching them, I was on a UA flight out of IAH. from the plane you could see two baggage handlers fighting. When fists were not enough they started throwing luggage at each other. The joke was on me as when I arrived into FAI, my bag had a fist sized hole in it. Alaska Air was the final carrier and ended up buying me a new bag.

mre5765

Any car seat that has been in an auto collision should be considered damaged and disposed of. For that reason, I kept the original boxes for the seats my kids used and packaged them in their boxes and foam packing before checking them. Checking a car seat with no protection knowing how rough baggage handlers treat checked luggage is simply asking for trouble. Even if the car seat appeared to emerge from baggage claim unscathed, it would likely have hidden fractures and would be a death trap. For the sake of the child, I am happy UA destroyed the seat.

OP should ask for a $250 travel certificate. This can be done with an email and I suspect UA will be happy to give OP that costs UA nothing.

I hope OP kept the box.
Who wants to keep the box? That would be me. Boxes fold flat. Packing tape and box cutter are a must for repacking and removal. No airline, not even United, ever dared to charge over size fees.

Often1

I would make this a very simple request to UA, perhaps 2-3 sentences at most and I would attach a copy of the receipt for the new seat.

Simply say that UA damaged, you went to airport and agent was willing to replace but did not have access to the room where replacements were stored and thus you had to buy a new one to protect the child. I would leave out all of the other back and forth as it is irrelevant.

UA is clearly not liable, but equally clearly makes it either right or kinda right when properly approached.

LaserSailor

Booster seats dont serve any engineering function other than positioning the occupant to allow the restraint system to properly function. Marketing departments of child seat manufacturers fear-mong people into replacing them very effectively though.

harryhood

Amen to that. Volvo builds integrated booster seat into some of their cars as an option -- it's little more than a mechanism that elevates the the seat cushion higher so kids can sit on it, be comfortable and still be properly restrained. While I wouldn't recommend it, you could in theory use books, towels, jackets, etc as a booster in a pinch with very little reduction in effectiveness.

Joshua

Has anyone dealt with this recently? I’m 1K,
was travelling in an approx $1399 PQP SFO-EWR Z fare with a lap child, and gate checked his car seat. It arrived damaged.

Called 1K, was transferred to “1K baggage” and was offered an $100 ETC but that was all. Car seat would be about $245 to replace.

HNLbasedFlyer

Your airfare won't have anything to do with UA's response. Send them the original receipt for the car seat and a picture of the damage and ask for reconsideration.