How do I get to the airport?

[supertrooper1]

I just bought tickets for a long weekend in San Francisco with just DS and me. The cheaper flight out of our local airport also allowed me to avoid a 2 hour drive to Seattle, but we fly into Oakland. We'll take the BART to our hotel in SF, but I'm not sure what the best way to get back to the airport would be. Our flight leaves Oakland at 7am and it looks like BART starts at 5am, which I would worry isn't enough time to get to the airport and make our flight. I want to avoid taking a car seat if possible. 

Would it be best to take the BART Sunday evening and stay near the airport? Do I take a car seat and take a cab or Uber? Do I try to Uber and get one with a car seat? I've never done Uber. Is there another option I'm not thinking about? 

[phdmomma]

How old is DS? We got a blow up booster for DS for our trip to Florida this spring. If it's only one ride, I would try uber with a car seat request. Also, does the hotel have a shuttle?

[supertrooper1]

DS is 4.5, but small for his age. We could get away with just a booster seat for this trip. That might be a good option, although I'm trying to reduce the number of things I have to carry.

The hotel only has a shuttle to SFO, not Oakland. If we stayed in Oakland the night before the flight, I would find one that had a shuttle.

[k3am]

Uber in the city should be pretty easy. You can get a car seat, but I've never done it before.

For airport car service though, I prefer using Wingz since you can schedule in advance. And they can provide a car seat for you as well.

[supertrooper1]

k3am, Wingz looks awesome. The flat fee is very appealing. And I wasn't really wanting to spend the night in Oakland which would cut my time in SF and make us switch hotels.
Do you or anyone else know how much time I should give us for the drive from downtown SF to Oakland? Google says 32 minutes without traffic. Would there be much traffic at 4:30 am? Would 45 minutes be a safe estimate?

[2chatter]

I always call the hotel for airport drive time. Have fun!!

[k3am]

supertrooper1, traffic starts early and is awful. That is (thankfully) not an area of traffic I have to drive through ever.

[shakinros]

45mins should be fine at that time of day.

[mommyatty]

Wingz is awesome. k3am recommended it, and we will never go to the airport with kids any other way.

[k3am]

Stealing your thread. I have TWO kids in car seats. We'll be renting a car when we're there, so we'll need seats at our location as well. Rent? Bring our own and gate check?

[waverly]

Sept 22, 2017 13:05:49 GMT -5 k3am said:

Stealing your thread. I have TWO kids in car seats. We'll be renting a car when we're there, so we'll need seats at our location as well. Rent? Bring our own and gate check?

We've always brought ours and checked them. It is a huge PITA, but now they are both in boosters so much better.

[twinmomma]

k3am, We've always brought seats and used them on the plane. My kids are both in high backed boosters with five point harness. The ones we have are super lightweight and small, so haven't been an issue.

[k3am]

waverly, twinmomma, I know Car Seats for the Littles wants me to believe it, but our kids won't die when we gate check, right?

We're buying a seat for DD, but not for DS. (Another thing CSFTL has assured me is going to kill my children.)

[waverly]

Well CSFL is a helpful website for guidelines they do tend to be um ... well you know what I mean.

I am not aware of a single child that has had a problem with a car seat after it was checked. Especially gate checked.

Rental car companies' car seats have their own problems. And H would kill me if I lugged a huge car seat on the plane and installed it.

Luckily my kids are older, so an installed booster seat meant for a shoulder strap would be laughable.





No offense twinmomma.

[k3am]

Our seats are Diono's... and.. heavy as all get out.

[waverly]

Sept 22, 2017 16:05:07 GMT -5 k3am said:

Our seats are Diono's... and.. heavy as all get out.

Same before we switched to boosters.

[redshoejune]

Sept 22, 2017 13:05:49 GMT -5 k3am said:

Stealing your thread. I have TWO kids in car seats. We'll be renting a car when we're there, so we'll need seats at our location as well. Rent? Bring our own and gate check?

I took two car seats through the airport to gate check with the two kids and me on my own in July. It was far easier than I expected. I was also renting a car at our destination and really wanted them to be in the seats they were used to.
I got a luggage cart from Walmart and was able to attach both seats to it with bungy cords. Me and the kids took backpacks and checked a big suitcase with most of our stuff in it so the carseats were the only thing I had to drag. It was a little bit of a pain to get everything hand inspected at security but not bad.

[mommyatty]

I've done the two car seats through security thing. We are never doing it again. We will have a baby gear rental place meet us at the car rental place or rent from the car rental folks. I've known a lot of people who rented and none of them had any issues.

I think CSFTL is insane. Like, over the top hysterical. And I'm a very anxious mom to begin with, so if I think they're nuts, that's really saying something.

[supertrooper1]

The last time we rented a car, we rented the car seat. It looked brand new. I think we went through Hertz and they just pointed to a shelf and we picked out which one we wanted from a dozen different ones. My ONLY complaint was that it seemed expensive. It was an extra $65, so I feel like I could have purchased a car seat for that price. We have done the car seat on the car seat cart through the airport when we used the car seat on the plane. It doubled as a stroller. I have to say it is much nicer not having to wheel the car seat through the airport and deal with it, either checking it, gate checking it or using it on the plane.

Someone did mention one time about the Baby Trend Yumi folding booster seat. www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-Yumi-Folding-Booster/dp/B01B4ND6FC

[twinmomma]

I totally get that I'm in the minority on car seats installed on the plane. We happen to have tiny seats that all the blogs recommend for travel as our every day seats and CSFTL freaked me out just enough to make me do it. But it actually wasn't that bad. I thought dealing with two gate checked umbrella strollers sucked more.

[mommyatty]

twinmomma, Until this last trip, I was totally with you. But as the kids get bigger, it's harder and harder to haul all their crap and their seats.

I have the Yumi folding booster. It's pretty awesome for travel except it's wide, so in many cars it's darn near impossible to buckle the seat belt.

[k3am]

DD is 4.5. We have her in a 5 point seat still. Would something like a mifold or a bubblebum be okay for her?

[leap]

k3am , I would try a mifold or bubblebum out before the trip to make sure the seat belt fits properly. DD2 is 5.75 and used a bubblebum on a trip this summer, but I wasn't sure it would work for her until I put her in it (before our trip). I think bubblebum has a 40 pound minimum weight and she is barely 40 pounds. I have done two car seats through the airport by myself and it was not fun so I can see why you're looking for alternatives. I'm so glad both girls are big enough for boosters now.

[k3am]

leap I didn't even think about weight limits. DD is just barely 40 lbs. Depending on the day.