Anyone know if the airlines would search a checked car seat bag?

[CrzyforPiglet]

Before anyone potentially blasts me this is only an idea we are considering and not completely committed to yet so here goes . . .

For our Nov. 2010 trip we'll be checking our DD's car seat but not using it on the plan b/c she'll be a lap baby. I was thinking that if I could at least put a pack of diapers in the car seat bag that we might be able to only check one bag and save ourselves a $46 luggage fee. I'm not very good at skirting the rules and am nervous about what would happen if Delta opened the bag and found something in addition to the car seat that technically shouldn't be there, but for $46 I'm seriously thinking of it. Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

 

[clkelley]

Unless there is a rule I'm aware of, a bag is a bag and they shouldn't care what's in it as long as it is not a prohibited item.

 

[chartle]

Unless there is a rule I'm aware of, a bag is a bag and they shouldn't care what's in it as long as it is not a prohibited item.

I think the issue is that a checked car seat, like a stroller, is not considered a bag when it comes to luggage fees. But if you put something else in with a checked car seat is it now a piece of luggage and all extra charges could apply.

Sorry, don't know the answer just wanted to clear things up.

 

[ccgirl]

If you are looking to not pack the diapers you could always do garden grocer or something like that and have the diapers etc. delivered to you. Definitely cheaper to deliver than the $46 bagged fee and you don't have to be nervous about being "caught". Just a thought.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

Thanks Chartle for the clarification - that is exactly what I am wondering. We would "check" the carseat bag in at the ticket counter along with our other bag but carseats and strollers travel free. We haven't brought a carseat with us since they changed the luggage fees so I'm not sure if bring a little extra in the bag is done all the time and the airlines caught on or if they don't really care.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm not advocating anything that would violate any business's rules. What kind of bag would you be using - a disposable trash bag, or a specially designed, sturdy, zippered car seat bag? Can you foresee ANY reason why the airline might POSSIBLY open the bag, either intentionally or accidentally - even the bag accidentally opening itself by, say, tearing?

And that's ALL I'm gonna say.

 

[PlutoPony]

Isn't searching checked bags the responsibility of TSA, not the airlines? If so I would think TSA has no reason to care whether you paid the airline to transport your bag or not, not to mention that different airlines have different policies on checked bag charges. So I would think packing other things with the checked car seat would cause no issue .

 

[dburg30]

Honesty is the best policy. Call the airline and ask them. Will they even take a car seat in a 'bag' and still allow it to be called a 'free' item. I know lots of times people just have the plain car seat. That would be where I would start. If being in a bag, even by itself is it still 'free'? Knowing how some of the airlines want the baggage fees, I know what my answer would be if you were checking it. It wouldnt count if it was bagged. And if I opened it before checking it thru, I wouldnt allow it.

 

[DoctorK]

We did something similar last August on AirTran. We have a canvas car seat bag with a handle and side pockets meant for protecting the car seat when you check it. It's free to check a carseat with probably every airline. We were afraid one of our suitcases would be over the 50 lbs by a couple of pounds, so I put my wife's toiletry bag inside the carseat bag. No problems, but no guarantee that they won't object.

 

[Lewisc]

Blame passengers who use that strategy if airlines decide to change their policy of letting famlies check a car seat but not count it against checked luggage limits. I don't think airlines want to have to take the time to inspect the car seat bag. Easier to just count it as a checked bag. Weigh it.

I suspect the airline won't know, or care, if a parent stuck one package of diapers in the bag. I suspect one bag of diapers would fit in other checked bags or in checked bags. I suspect people considering this strategy plan to put more then one bag of diapers with the car seat.

OP--I wouldn't worry about one pack of diapers but I wouldn't use it instead of an extra checked bag.

 

[Hannathy]

as a security measure I certainly hope they are checking any closed un-see thru bag that is getting put into the hold of the airplane! At least running it thru the xray. What the airline will do when they see it is more than a car seat I don't know.

I always packed the diapers scattered thru the luggage taking up small spaces and figured when they were used I would have space to bring things back.

I do know if a lot of people start doing this it will end the free car seat checking for everyone. Why does every rule have to be stretched, manipulated,fudged? This is why a lot of the nice little things businesses used to do for people aren't done anymore.

 

[crashbb]

Isn't searching checked bags the responsibility of TSA, not the airlines? If so I would think TSA has no reason to care whether you paid the airline to transport your bag or not, not to mention that different airlines have different policies on checked bag charges. So I would think packing other things with the checked car seat would cause no issue .

They aren't checking for TSA violations. The airline would check (at the check-in counter) because the OP is checking the the bag for free. The airline rule states that only the seat itself can be checked for free - if other things are packed with the seat, the luggage is no longer checked for free.

It has nothing to do with the TSA or security.

 

[Glencora]

I agree with the PP - just have the diapers delivered to your room, and then you won't have to worry about it.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Why can't you simply open the pack of diapers and place them throughout your luggage where there are spaces?

The airline is doing you a favor by not counting that carseat against your luggage allowance and transporting it for free. Why push it?

 

[Lewisc]

Why can't you simply open the pack of diapers and place them throughout your luggage where there are spaces? The airline is doing you a favor by not counting that carseat against your luggage allowance and transporting it for free. Why push it?

I suspect parents considering this strategy hope to put more then just one pack of diapers in the bag with the car seat.

The OP is considering putting at least put a pack of diapers in the car seat bag. I think it would be obvious by the weight of the bag that extra items are in the bag.

 

[n2mm]

OP, we have loaded our carseat bags a few times and it's never been a problem. Keep in mind it was before all of the baggage fees and we fly Jetblue so each of us get a bag allowance and often never use it all (esp. since the granddaughters share a suitcase, and are allowed one bag each). We don't do it to avoid the fees, we just do it at the last minute. We generally check our bags with RAC, but the carseat(s) can't be checked until we get to the airport. Since they are comp. for Jetblue, we check them at the counter when we get there. I can't tell you the stuff we throw in there. Often it's the 2 yo's car seat, with the 4 yo's boster seat -- both in one store bought bag--black w/zipper. There are mugs and toys and jackets, maybe a fanny pack or 2. Pretty much whatever we don't want to carry on the plane. We've never given it a second thought and we surely don't hide it as we stand there before getting into line and start packing it up. Since we could all bring a carryon, we could carry the stuff on board, but we prefer to not carry on anything. I'm guessing your situation is a little different from ours, since we just do it for convenience and for hands free traveling. The worse thing they can do is take the diapers out and you'll have to take a cab to the store and buy some.

 

[bumbershoot]

Related but not totally an answer...I would gate check your carseat. I've watched carseats (including DS's) come crashing down the carousel, and I can just imagine that that's the tip of the iceberg of what happens on the seat's way to and from the plane. They can mishandle things when you gate check it too, but there's less time for them to do so.

We had a big Eddie Bauer carseat bag, and after carrying it all through security (had to take the seat out of the bag to get through the xray machine, but the San Diego machines seems smaller than anywhere else, as I don't have to do the things to the carseat anywhere else but at SAN), I did indeed take a few sweaters (or something like that...soft and bulky) that I was carrying, and put it in the carseat bag. They made it just fine.

But checking it at the counter...much more opportunity for zippers to fail, things to fall out, etc etc. Not to mention the impacts on the carseat.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

Hi everyone - OP here! Thanks for all the honest and respectful responses, I truly appreciate everyone's input. Just to clarify a couple of things - we would be checking the car seat in a nylon bag made for car seats. It is what we did the last time we took our car seat and it just helps it from getting dirty and the latch belts from getting broken. Also when I said I wanted to "at least put a pack of diapers" in the bag that is all I would ever think of doing. We're going for 9 days and if I pack 4-5 diapers a day it ends up being enough that for us it could be the difference between checking another bag or not. We'll have laundry available to us so we can afford to pack fewer clothes and instead of just a backpack that doubles as a diaper bag we'll probably bring another backpack so we'll be able to help disperse the load that way. Thanks to the couple posters with the garden grocer suggestion - I think that may be one of our best options since we'll probably need milk, snacks, and some other things too.

 

[roobug]

Interesting I think it must depend on the airline because I looked at a few airline websites (the ones we use) and it doesn't say anywhere that it can only be the carseat with nothing else :shrug: We always put a baby carrier and our cloth diapers buckled into the car seat - it's in a clear bag so it's completly visiable and we've never had a problem and have never been questioned by the airline. In fact usually we are putting the baby carrier into the carseat at the ticket counter because we have been using it so if it were against the rules I really think they would have said something because we travel fairly often.

 

[WhitGB]

We too have the black car seat bag (walmart, maybe) and have packed it with sweatshirts or towels (within reason). It was not necessarly to get around the rules but to protect the seats. We have also added that "oh my gosh" we are at the airport and the kid has X in their hand item.

We now have two boosters, one with a back and one without, I have not put a lot of thought in how those are going to do in Nov.

We have also carried them on the plane once, now that DD is 3.5, I would not do that again. It really is hard to move around.