Bringing three pieces of buggy on Aer Lingus flight

ncmc

Hello all, we are off to Portugal in a few weeks with our baby who will be 4 months old. We have a Quinny Buzz buggy and were planning to bring the chassis and the buggy section, which is most comfortable for her sleeping in if we are in a restaurant etc. However we are planning to rent a car and as the car seats are €10 per day to rent, we thought we might try and bring our own maxi cosi. So that would be three parts to the buggy. Has anyone tried this with Aer Lingus before? I know I could contact them, but their official line is probably 'no' I'm just wondering if there is any description at the desk.

lazygal

That isn't a three piece buggy, that's a buggy and a car seat. AFAIK the car seat has to be checked in. We're bringing a three piece buggy, two seats and chassis, on a flight shortly and there's no issue with that, but if we wanted to bring the car seat that was an extra item.

ncmc

Do you know if they charge it as a full piece of luggage? I have booked two 20kg bags, but could probably get away with one bag if the seat counted as our second bag.

lazygal

I think they check it and you need a tag for it, but I can't recall if there's a charge.

http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/knowbeforeyoufly/travellingwithchildren/#d.en.4558

Website doesn't make it clear. I'm almost certain people I know didn't pay but did have to check it in as they were using the two parts of the buggy, and the car seat was separate.

ncmc

Thanks Lazygal, I just rang them for piece of mind and they count the maxi Cosi as part of the buggy, so no extra charge. I didn't ask if it needed to be checked or not, but that doesn't really make much difference to us as we're checking bags anyway. Saves us €70 and makes the car hire a bit more affordable so it's good to know for sure!

lazygal

Good to know for us too!

Digs

We are flying with aerlingus to the US next week with our 16 month old so was looking into the same. You're allowed a buggy to the door and can check in an extra piece ie carseat, booster or travel cot. If you've booked a seat for the baby as opposed to sitting on your lap the carseat can come onto the plane, otherwise it has to be checked (free of charge).

Our carseat is a heavy lump of kit so glad to be able to check it and not have to lug it about!

We have a bugaboo cameleon so am going to walk her to the door in it and it collapses in two pieces so we are going to tie it together with bungee cords and hope the baggage handlers are gentle!

lazygal

I got a tip from a seasoned traveller to wrap the seat in a large black rubbish bag before tying everything together, keeps the seat clean, and detach the hood and put it in with the seat in the bag. We have the Donkey so that's what I plan on doing when we travel with it.

FactCheck

I've travelled with the Donkey on three longhaul flights this year and I would really, really recommend buying the travel bag for it and just checking it in with your suitcases.

It is so huge, so heavy, and so difficult to fold up that relying on time-pressured porters at the gate was just too much of a risk to me. A piece could go missing or get damaged. The airline will not compensate you if they damage it and with the Donkey as expensive as it is, that wasn't a risk I wanted to run.

The bag is also very expensive but easy to use and well worth it.

I put the baby in the baby bjorn and my toddler walks.

I also have a dedicated bag for the car seat I got on amazon and I check that in with the suitcases too (unless I'm using it as a baby seat on the flight, but you need to buy the baby their own seat for that). It was very cheap (less than a tenner I think) and much more hard-wearing than a bin bag.

GT_TDI_150

Check the car rental places because its 10€ per day up to a max amount, think the max is 70€.

So even if you have a seat for 14days, it'll cos 70€