Before your check your car seat with the luggage or over-sized bags, there’s something we’ve pondered…

If every car seat that’s ever been in a vehicle crash (even fender benders and minor accidents) needs to be replaced, by law, then how come you can check them in the airport?

Have you seen how luggage is handled?  In fact, our Uppa Baby Vista stroller (which has a strong, sturdy frame) actually came out the other end of an airplane broken.  Both the safety bar on the seat and the lock mechanism were destroyed on a flight by the careless, rough handling of employees.

If you’ve ever watched how items are loaded onto a plane, you’ll see them being thrown onto a conveyor belt — often upside down, sideways, on top of one another etc.  That’s just the way it goes.

No, I don’t expect people to gently place them on the carousel or onto the plane, but when it comes to something like an infant or child car seat, what does the rough handling do to the safety features?

If a fender bender car accident requires you to replace the car seat (in case of defect upon impact) how can we be sure that our seats remain safe post-travel?  Even in travel bags (which we have used and still experienced broken items), kiddie gear is never guaranteed to be safe/secure/in one piece.

It’s just something to think about.

I’ve questioned airline employees about the handling of our children’s gear and we’re often met with a shoulder shrug and a luke-warm apology.

So before you rush to check that car seat, consider how it’s going to be treated, how many flights you’re taking, how young your child is, the make of your frame (is it steel, plastic, metal etc).

xx

Safe travels!