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When can you stop travelling with carseats?
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Anonymous
| At what age/size did you stop lugging a carseat on your trips? In Maryland at least, the carseat laws go on for a while - kids must be in boosters until they're 8 or weigh 65 pounds. Do I really have to bring a carseat/booster on our trips until our kids are 8? Seems like overkill. |
Anonymous
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almost all states are 8 years and 80 lbs, I think. So lug it or rent it. My parents have a booster at their house, so we can fly without one when we visit them.
Car rental agencies charge a ridiculous amount for them, so in some instances it makes more sense to buy one when you arrive and donate it at the end of the trip. But that takes too much organizational skill and time for me. I wonder if the cleaning of them is what makes them so expensive. We have a AAA membership and it covers the carseat/booster rental at Hertz in most states. I would like to see rental agencies be legally required to provide free carseats and boosters. They have to provide safe vehicles with working seat belts, right? Why not for the littlest passengers? |
Anonymous
Overkill vs dead kid, hmm seems like a simple choice |
Anonymous
| Really? I never see people with elementary-age kids in the airport with carseats or boosters. I guess they could be renting ... |
Anonymous
| We rent or have them stowed away at our arrival location if we go there often (family houses etc.) Although having them stowed places requires the person on the other end picks you up at the airport and REMEMBERS to bring it to the airport. Which has not always been the case. I would love it if Rental cars had to provide them free of charge. If you have lugged a car seat for few times the booster seat seems like nothing at all. |
Anonymous
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8/80 is the min, yes.
For travel, check this out. There are two sizes I believe: http://www.amazon.com/RideSafer-Car-Seat-Travel-Vest/dp/B000MGWEII |
Anonymous
| 20:38 coming back to say I've read about this product on car-seat.org from CPST's, so it isn't some random crud product. I wouldn't use it every day but for travel I think it would be perfect for an older child. |
Anonymous
| Do you mean on the airplane or for the rental car? On the airplane, we switched to the built-in seat belt around age 4 or 5. For in the car . . . our kids are 10 and 6, and we still bring boosters for both (the 10 year old hasn't hit the 4'9" requirement, which is what NHTSA, Consumer Reports, AAP recommend). |
Anonymous
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Most of our trips lately have required getting a rental car anyway, so we have started renting them. Sometimes it is easier than lugging them (even if you check them for the extra $25 bag fee), or bringing them on as the kids' carry on luggage and getting yelled at by a flight attendant about how you can't use it on the plane (duh - and she apparently thought I was going to seat my kids in the overhead bin since that's where I was sticking them when she yelled).
I will probably keep my kids in them until they are 10 or 12 - they are both fairly thin and not super tall girls. |
Anonymous
| BTW, you do not have to pay the $25 fee to check car seats. Car seats are exempt from bag check fees (at least they are on United and Delta, the airlines I usually fly). |
Anonymous
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OP,
Check the law in the state(s) you'll be traveling. In some states the booster requirement goes up to 80 pounds. http://www.elitecarseats.com/custserv/custserv.jsp?pageName=car_seat_laws Rent one with your car rental. Keep one at the grandparents. Check yours when you fly. |
Anonymous
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Every time when we travel we use a car service who are able to provide us with carseat/booster without any additional fees, round trip. their fare is the same as to Taxi. We live in Chevy Chase, MD. We highly recommend their service. 1-800-319-3677. Good luck!
Dora |