Take or Rent Baby Car Seat

When our son was little I always preferred to take our own car seat to make sure the quality was up to what I wanted it to be! We were able to buy covers designed to zip over the car seat and then just check it with the luggage. It always worked well for us and the car seat came out both ends of the flights in great shape!

Rental car seats are unjustifiably expensive, just take your own, we always did.

We took ours too. Its a hassle but worth it to us..
We rented on once in Hawaii.. and besides being pricey extra, it didn't seem very clean to us. Ours was always a bit encrusted with crumbs, but at least it was our kids own crumbs..lol

Thank you for the feedback.
Have you ever taken the baby car seat on the airplane in order to be used in the seat for the baby?

Yes, if the baby has his/her own seat on the plane you are likely to want a car seat in the plane as well. Generally a 22 month old can't / won't comfortably sit in an airplane seat but will stay in a car seat. Maybe even sleep! This lets you have a break on the plane. Safer, as well.

You can use a forward facing FAA approved seat on the plane. Most big names are, but confirm.

That sounds like the best plan. Thanks!
I will just have to be patient and give myself enough time to carry on the car seat, stroller, and baby items.

You might want to check that car you are hiring has good ISO-Fix points and that that is a condition of the hire.

Aren't all European and Asian cars manufactured in the past 10 years or so mandated to have isofix fixtures?

We used to take our kid's Graco car seat to Europe until one day we tried out a standard European isofix seat - and compared to it, Graco, with it's multiple harnesses and belts and carbiners and whatnots seems like something right out of stone age.

We are going to take our own car seat. We plan to install it on the plane also. I'm hoping it is not too difficult to install on the plane or in the rental car.

Meg.. check with the airline you are using.. they all have different rules.. I know we had to make sure our carseats were the approved type.

By the time the kids were about 3 we just used the booster type seats .. a lot easier to carry.. but I especially liked the baby carry type ( for kids under 25 lbs) we considered those lifesaver, they could be put on a chair at a restaurant table ( better in booths of course) or on the floor by my feet.. so many places do not have high chairs we found..so feeding was much easier with child in carseat..

I have to admit carrying the big carseats was a pain in the butt sometimes.. but it just freaked me out thinking my child wouldn't be safe , even in a plane ( which are much safer than cars by far.. but still) .. I have read about babies being hurt during turbulence.. flying out of their parents arms etc.. and that did it for me.. but the convenience of having a seat that my kids were used to sitting in.. and safely contained was best part.. and yes, my kids often slept in their carseats.. if just plopped on a seat they likely would have squired away and wanted to go exploring, they are used to their seats and we could keep them happy with snacks and reading to them etc.
Also.. if you are not adverse to kids watching some tv.. they car seats put them at better eye line for the back of the seat screens ( we didn't use the earplugs.. they would just watch the shows without sound..lol )

LATCH (lower anchor something) is the US standard for car seat fixtures. It's compatible with isofix, just a lot more cumbersome.

Thank you all for the replies and information. It will be so helpful as we start preparing for our trip in June. We are going to take our stroller and baby car seat with us on the trip. We will take the baby car seat on the plane and in the rental car. We will just ask for assistance from the airline and rental car agency to help install the car seats hopefully. We are using Dooley car rental. Thank you again so much

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone. I'm going to check with the airline, our car rental company, and the car seat manufacturer to make sure we are as prepared as possible. Our car seat uses LATCH (U.S. version of isofix) and can be installed with a seatbelt also.