Flying for the First Time with infant...taking Carseat with Base Attached

I have travelled a lot with my almost 5-year old and my 1-year old. I have never taken their infant base with me. The weight of it alone makes that nearly impossible. As long as you get the seatbelts tight, your infact seat is still safe even without the base. Also, when we travelled to visit family we were using cars that were made the year before the latch system was required, so our bases would not even work with those cars. Be sure to know if the car you are going to use at your destination can use your base. If you plan to travel a lot, you definitely want a bag for your seat. Buy a bag that will fit a convertible car seat and it should work fine for your infant seat, but it will still work for the next carseat you get, which you will have for a lot longer than your infant seat. Good luck!

Just one suggestion I have from traveling with my son is asking if the flight is full, or if there are any open seats. If there are, they will let you put the car seat in a seat, strapped in of course. I found that it made it so much easier for him to have his own seat. We were only able to do this on the way there, the flight was full on the way home. I don't think you should have any problem with the base, it's a part of the car seat. The bag would only help ensure that the stroller doesn't get beat up, but not necessary.

Hi Jody! I like to check the base when I check in. Most airlines don't count as "luggage" so it's free & you don't have to cart it around the airport. They wrap it in a plastic bag and it arrives w/ luggage. By doing this i guess I'm taking a risk that it will get on the place (gate checking would pretty much guarantee this). Most of th ebags I've seen are huge & more for a convertible carseat (not infant). However, the infant seat does fit in the bag & then you can pack more stuff around it & check it as luggage. in all our travels, we have found it to be easier to avoid carrying the base around the airport. Have fun!

As another Mama said, if you're going to be in a car at your destination,you need the base. My daughter flew for the first time at 5 months. The flight wasn't full, so we took the base and she had a seat. Regardless, you can check the seat and/or base for free. I invested in the bag ($20 at BRU....but we travel a LOT) because the cargo hold is very dirty whether you gate check or baggage check. I have an umbrella stroller, and bought the bag for that too when gate checking.

Most important, don't stress out about travel. You remain calm, and baby will too. At her age, she'll probably sleep a lot. Best advice: 1) visit the TSA web site so you're familiar with the security issues related to infant travel, 2) go to www.babycenter.com and look up articles on travel. Lots of tips there. Also, babycenter has a packing checklist you can print off for infants up to toddlers...I use this every trip; it is a great help. I cross things off as I pack them. 3) Let the flight attendants help you. They know what they are doing and have been wonderful with us and our daughter.

Again, stay calm and you will have a wonderful travel experience. Travel is the best gift you can give your child! Remember: "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page". Bon Voyage!!

jody, my best advice would be to call the specific airline you'll be using. we had to travel when my son was 10 days old. it was hugely stressful, but the flight attendants were SO helpful. everyone loves helping with babies! well most everyone lol. i even left his bottles on the airplane at our 2 hour layover (we weren't switching planes, just got off to stretch our legs) and they brought my other bag to me. anyway, i think that we "gate checked" both our carrier and the base. we didn't take a stroller because he was so little, we didn't really need it. but the airline will be able to answer all your questions, and they will also document your record so that whoever looks at it will see exactly what they told you, and what you need. also ask them about bringing formula/breastmilk on board. we were using powder formula at the time and could not premix any of it. it was kind of a hassle because of course MY son was only happy during the trip if he was eating. which as a new mom i obliged - wrong! -he ended up spitting up all over EVERYTHING we brought. but that was my mistake. my son also would never take a binkie, and hadn't discovered his thumb yet. we had kind of a hard time but the airlines were not our issue at all, they did everything they could to help!

I have traveled a few times with my infant car seat and just kept both the carseat and the base attached. You definitly need that base for the car or rental car. I didn't want to spend the money on a bag but that probably would have been nice. I simply bagged them in a large clear bag, taped it up really good and put tags all over it with our names. It's real easy to check the stroller at the gate. Just make sure you label that also. Good luck.

I just wanted to second the idea of asking when you check in about extra seats. If the flight isn't full we've had good luck with the airlines working with us to change our seats around and give us the extra seat for the car seat. When it's possible, it does take a lot of stress off you and you don't have to worry about holding a baby the entire time!

Don't stress too much, it's way easier than you think it is! Your daughter is young enough that she'll be easy to entertain and may even sleep the entire flight due to the white noise. Take enough diapers to get you there and buy the rest when you arrive. If you're not going someplace where there are already toys, I'd take her favorites along and use up your extra space for that.

As far as the carseat, the airline will supply you a big clear garbage bag thing, I'd use that if you don't want to spend the extra money. Besides, you have to consider how much you're really going to use the bag in the future...

Anyway, good luck, it's not going to be as hard as you imagine!