We sure could’ve used this for our last flight with Southwest.
During our flight to Dallas, we had to catch another flight through Chicago’s Midway Airport. We picked up Lucas car seat and stroller at the gate and noticed that the car seat was filthy. It was damp and covered in a white, soapy substance.
At first we couldn’t imagine what it was. It seemed to be a bit soapy. We then had an idea of what it could be. Prior to take off from New York, our plane had to be de-iced. Out came the trucks shooting a white foam onto the wings of the plane. Could it be that our car seat had de-icing foam on it?
Either way, we wiped it off and didn’t worry much about it.
I just came across an item that Southwest is selling that could’ve most likely protected the car seat.
Southwest will be selling a reusable car seat/ stroller bag at the ticket counter for $15.
The bag sounds like a fair deal at $15 and looks pretty nice too. The bag comes in a nice blue color and features the Southwest airplane logo as well as the heart wings logo. I haven’t seen the bag in person so I am just going on what I’ve seen in the photo above (from the Nuts About Southwest blog).
When we first started flying with Lucas we used a laundry bag to protect our car seat. We got a bit lazy and now just bring the car seat as is. Our last flight was actually the first time we had any issues.
The article from Nuts About Southwest says that they came up with the idea for the car seat/ stroller bag due to employees and customers asking for an environmentally friendly product than our plastic car seat bags. I found this info a bit strange since we’ve brought a car seat on all but one of our flights with Southwest and have not once been offered any bag to place our car seat into!
After our last experience traveling with Lucas’ car seat, maybe it’s time to start bringing the laundry bag again or better yet, maybe we should buy one of the covers offered by Southwest.
To find out more about Southwest’s reusable car sea/ stroller bags, click HERE.
We purchased a very large backpack style bag for our daughter’s car seat. It was huge, and we quickly figured out that: a) most airlines allow a car seat as a checked bag for free, and b) the bag was large enough to pack a LOT of her clothes, extra diapers, etc. in and around the car seat as padding. She is now three and it went to Colorado with us over Christmas, meaning we didn’t have to keep up with our parkas through three flights and four airports.
I would check the size of Southwest’s bag to make sure it fits whichever car seat you have, but it sounds like a pretty good deal.
Scott- Great tip about checking & packing your daughter’s clothes & diapers in your car seat bag too! However, we always gate check our car seat. If there is one item I’d hate to not make it to our destination, the car seat would be the one.
From what I read, the Southwest car seat bag is sold at the ticket counter so the next time we fly with them I’ll probably ask to see it before purchasing.