Flying, luggage, carry-on, fees OH MY!

[tjsbwilwert]

We are flying Airtran for the first time since 2002 at the end of December with a five and seven year old. We're staying four nights at WDW. I know a lot has changed in 9 years such as toiletry containers, having shoes examined etc. Here's my dilemma. I was considering using all carry-on luggage for the four of us to avoid luggage fees. Good idea or bad? Someone suggested to me that it would be too difficult for the 5 & 7 yr olds to handle rolling their luggage onto the plane or that going through security would be an even bigger pain. Should I pack one big suitcase and only a couple of carry-ons? What have you done with similar ages? Advice and insight would be appreciated.
Jen

 

[Haley]

For four nights I would just do carry ons. Just go to airtran.com and check out the dimensions for what they consider a carry on. Pack light, use the toiletries Disney provides or bring travel size ones.

 

[bigtony777]

Jen,

I am not sure where you are flying from, but out of Indianapolis, the gate agents ask to collect carry on to check on every flight we take with Airtran. You will not have to pay a fee to check at the gate. We bring the magical express luggage tags along and put them on before handing the bags over at the gate and then they end up in your room just as checked luggage.

Now this will not save the effort of taking them through security, but it will make getting on and off the plane much easier. The other thing to remember is to get anything you will need right away in a carry on that you will keep with you.

The agents in Orlando usually offer to check about 50% of the time.

 

[goofy4tink]

My dd, now 18, has been handling her own luggage since she was 5. BUT.....when she was that young, she pretty much had a smallish rolling carryon, with her travel things in it. It wasn't until she was about 8 or so that she took over a fully packed carryon bag. I'm not sure that your kids are going to be able to efficiently handle fully loaded carryon bags if they haven't traveled by air before.
You will have to make do with the 3oz bottles of all toiletries...can be a huge pain. And yes, each person gets their own 3-1-1 baggie, but are your kids going to be able to remove their shoes, take out the 3-1-1 baggie, hoist the carryone bag (in addition to any other tote bags there may be) onto the belt, go through security, and then repack the bags and put their shoes back on, then proceed to the gate area??? I'm pretty sure that they will each have a backpack with books, toys, etc that will have to be dealt with as well.

It will be a huge hassle. I would just pack one checked bag, put toiletries and a lot of clothing in it, and then check it. Checked baggage fees are part of the cost of flying now...we really need to figure it in when deciding which airline to fly with.

It will be so much easier to just have two full size carryons, with the kids bringing backpacks for themselves, and one (or possibly two) checked bags.

 

[SaraJayne]

At most airports, kids 12 (or is it 10) and under don't need to remove their shoes anymore.

My 10 year old didn't have to in May, but my 14 year old did in October.

 

[goofy4tink]

At most airports, kids 12 (or is it 10) and under don't need to remove their shoes anymore.

My 10 year old didn't have to in May, but my 14 year old did in October.

Ooops, forgot that one. Thanks for the reminder.
But, it still could be too much for two kids to handle, in addition to any stresses about the actual flying.

 

[MikeSF]

I'd bring a somewhat large duffle bag just in case, for gifts/souvenirs or what not that might not make it in your carry on if you try to go that route. At the worst you pay 1 baggage fee on the return trip, and if you bought hundreds of merchandise (not too hard at Disney) you have a way to bring it back without sacrificing something in your bag.

 

[mom2brooke76]

I travel with my dd, 7, almost monthly (I regularly fly her to see her dad in Chicago and we go to WDW at least a couple of times a year, and unless she's going for just two nights I always check our bags. Mind you, we fly Southwest so there are no baggage fees. We do always carry things that must be pulled out at security, though. I bring my perfume, small lotion and contact solution and she brings her asthma inhalers. Even though she's probably flown 40+ times in her life I still have to help her get through security (she's great with putting her bag up) because she isn't always great at remembering her inhalers due to severe ADHD. Thankfully now kids 12 and under don't have to take their shoes off. If it were me, I'd think spending the money to check one big bag would be worth it for a more enjoyable trip.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Are they the "kid sized" rolling bags? Have the kids flown before? If so, I'd do it. Since kids don't have to take off shoes, it's not a hassle. And how many cosmetics and toiletries does a 5 year old pack?
You're the one that's going to have to put their bags in the bin and roll them down the belt. Would it stress you out to make sure the kids have their bags and are with you?
If any of this bothers you, I'd pack the largest bag allowed and check it. It might be worth the $40 to eliminate the hassle.
Have fun!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

For 4, I'd check a bag and have one carryon with the stuff you need for the day you arrive just to keep it simple. You could also have one of the kids have a backpack with fun stuff for the plane in it for them to share.

Then I'd probably bring a duffle bag (toss it into the checked suitcase) to use as a carryon on the way home if you need it since you'll probably have souvenirs to bring home.

On the way home, when my kids were that little, I would check both bags so I'd only have the backpack and duffle bag with souvenirs in it to deal with. It helped alot.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm with the poster who said there are always some who have to gate-check their carryons. If you are boarding toward the end of a full flight, the likelihood is that you will have to gate-check your carryons. There's no fee to gate-check, but you should still make sure there is nothing in your carryon that can't survive being checked or that is the type of thing which may get stolen (medicine, electronics, computers, cameras, etc)

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I would just check a piece of luggage if you're also going to be managing some kids. Just consider it part of the cost of going on vacation and in the grand scheme of things, its not much money.

 

[Gary M]

Jen,

I am not sure where you are flying from, but out of Indianapolis, the gate agents ask to collect carry on to check on every flight we take with Airtran. You will not have to pay a fee to check at the gate. We bring the magical express luggage tags along and put them on before handing the bags over at the gate and then they end up in your room just as checked luggage.

Now this will not save the effort of taking them through security, but it will make getting on and off the plane much easier. The other thing to remember is to get anything you will need right away in a carry on that you will keep with you.

The agents in Orlando usually offer to check about 50% of the time.

I also fly out of Indy on AirTran. People have figured out how to game the system and not pay baggage fees. They just bring the baggage to the gate and gate check it, without a fee. I have seen several large bags that have no shot at fitting in the overhead space, being checked at the gate. I would guess it's not up to security to police the size of bags. I fly AirTran a few times a year and have notice this baggage situation several times on each flight.

 

[goofy4tink]

I also fly out of Indy on AirTran. People have figured out how to game the system and not pay baggage fees. They just bring the baggage to the gate and gate check it, without a fee. I have seen several large bags that have no shot at fitting in the overhead space, being checked at the gate. I would guess it's not up to security to police the size of bags. I fly AirTran a few times a year and have notice this baggage situation several times on each flight.

NOpe, security doesn't much care if you bring a yak through...as long as it doesn't set off the alarms!!! It's not their job to monitor bag size...that's for the gate attendents to monitor. And they don't do a great job of it. I have no issue with having to gate check my legitimate carryon sized bag, but I'll be darned if people should be able to gate check a bag that is way over the carryon allowable size. That's not right.

It may be time for airlines to start charging for overhead bin storage....not a lot but maybe $10 per bag. And they could lower their checked bag fees to $15 a bag....fewer passengers trying to avoid the checked bag fee by lugging oversized carryon's on board.

 

[bigtony777]

NOpe, security doesn't much care if you bring a yak through...as long as it doesn't set off the alarms!!! It's not their job to monitor bag size...that's for the gate attendents to monitor. And they don't do a great job of it. I have no issue with having to gate check my legitimate carryon sized bag, but I'll be darned if people should be able to gate check a bag that is way over the carryon allowable size. That's not right.

It may be time for airlines to start charging for overhead bin storage....not a lot but maybe $10 per bag. And they could lower their checked bag fees to $15 a bag....fewer passengers trying to avoid the checked bag fee by lugging oversized carryon's on board.

I agree with this 100%! It is pretty ridiculous to see some of the bags that people try to carry on. The easiest solution would be to have a standard carry-on size for all airlines. Then there could be a slot at the checkpoint scanner and if your bag doesn't fit, you have to get out of line and go back to check it. It wouldn't take more than one time for someone to follow the rules.

 

[luvmy2babies]

For children that age who have not flown before I don’t think I’d put this much responsibility on them, especially with the addition of the 3-1-1 bag. But you have a lot to consider.

How much walking will they be doing with the bags? If you are driving to the airport, where will you park? How large is your home airport? MCO is quite large plus there is getting on and off the “monorail” inside to get from the plane to where you need to go and getting to the Magical Express area and doing the same thing on the return.

How much walking will they have to do with the bags once you get to where you are staying?

My daughter was 7 the first time we went. She had flown before, but it had been 3 years. It was her first time actually walking through the airport as she’d been in a stroller before.

Because I was wearing ds, carrying his car seat in a bag and pulling our large upright, I had her pull the 18 inch upright we had. She was also wearing a backpack. We had to stop twice and she was only pulling it from the van to the check-in counter. We parked across the street from the terminal.

I would remove something from the equation here. If you’re going with all carry-on luggage and you are traveling with your spouse or another adult, I’d figure out how to carry all the bags between the two adults and leave the children with their backpacks only. One thing I love about luggage, particularly rolling uprights as a single parent is that I can clip two bags together and pull them as one. Removing and packing the toiletry bag is enough responsibility for children that young on their first flight. At least the shoe issue has been removed. I put my daughter in sneakers with Velcro closure in 2010, but last month she was able to keep her shoes on.

The other option I would consider is packing the children’s things in one large bag and checking the one bag and the adults sticking with the carry-on luggage. I also pack our toiletries in a gallon sized zip lock bag and check them, but I don’t know what time your flight is. We got their early enough that we didn’t need our toiletries before the luggage was delivered. I did bring medication in the carry-ons, but the children had chewable tablets that didn’t have to be in a bag. We do fly Southwest though so we don’t have fees.

I’d still pay the fee though so my daughter and I carry as little as possible.

 

[tjsbwilwert]

Dumb question...but what is the 3-1-1 "rule" people are referring to?

 

[TDC Nala]

This refers to the rules for carrying liquid/gel/paste items past airport security.

All these items must be in 3 ounce or less containers (now I think it's 3.4 due to European sizes) and fit into 1 plastic quart ziploc bag, 1 ziploc bag ber passenger.

 

[tjsbwilwert]

Thank you!

 

[Ariel224]

OP, do you NEED a separate rolling bag for each family member?

My family of 5 (me, DH, kids 6, 8, 10) just did a 4 night/5 day Disneyland trip with all carry ons. We were able to easily fit into 3 carry on suitcases and one small accessory bag (7"x5"x12") for all the toiletries. Each child had a very small drawstring backpack with a couple of books for the flight, their Disney pins, autograph books, and their empty water bottles. We each wore the heaviest sweatshirts we were taking onto the plane. I used packing cubes in different colors for each family member to keep each person's clothing separated.

For the 3-1-1 issue, I had 4 quart bags in the outer pocket of the accessory bag. At security, I just pulled them all out and placed them in the appropriate bins for myself and each of the kids. We walked through, and I was able to quickly repack them into the one bag. The kids took turns rolling the 3rd suitcase around and even the youngest did just fine. Only the oldest had flown before. I had explained in detail to the other two ahead of time exactly what would happen and what to do. Truthfully, our biggest hassle at security was DH's inability to be prepared. The only shoes he brought were full lace-up hiking boots, he never had his belt and sunglasses off, and his pockets are always full of change and loose odds and ends. The kids did just fine.

Would it be possible to limit to 2 carry on suitcases, each adult having one rolling bag containing their own clothes plus that of one of the children? Each adult could also carry a backpack or tote bag. Then the children would only be responsible for their own small backpack.