Flying with strollers...?

[hammie59]

Never have flown with childern so bear with me....
Original plan was to take two umbrella sized strollers for my two kids. I'm now having second thoughts for the baby and am considering taking my single full sized one for her since it fully reclines. I have visions of her never naping in the umbrella one that only slightly reclines. Anyways, on to my questions: I know airlines allow you to check small strollers at the gate (NWA states "umbrella type"), but what about an average size graco one? Would I have to check it with my luggage? And does that count towards my luggage allowance? (I'm taking a lot of bags so this worries me!) Also, would I be nuts to do so without a stroller bag? Will they kill my stroller???

 

[blessedby3]

I would suggest gate checking your stroller to better insure that nothing happens to it. We always have gate checked because I have seen how the airlines sling and throw the luggage around and I dont want that to happen to my nice stroller! We just roll the stroller to the gate and my DH folds it. Last time we had the travel system and so he left the stroller and the car seat. When we landed it was right outside the door and DH just popped it up and we were on our way. We fly Allegiant and it does not count as luggage (neither does the car seat). I would deftnately take a reclining stroller for a one year old. A cheaper umbrella would be a nightmare.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I'd take the full stroller! I've gate checked my MacLaren double several times, and no one had any problems with it. Its 100% worth this, because then you don't have to worry about the kiddies running around (or holding them) the whole time and getting lost. It will be sitting open, waiting for you when you get off, you throw the kids right in, and get going to see Mickey - have a great trip!

 

[mikehn]

good thread, thanks for the tip

One more thing...I assume it's no problem getting a full sized stroller through airport security?

 

[blessedby3]

good thread, thanks for the tip

One more thing...I assume it's no problem getting a full sized stroller through airport security?

That depends on what you consider a "problem"
You do have to fold the thing and put it through the scanner. I didnt realize this and thought I could push my stroller through the walk through part. No such luck. I had to take my sleeping infant out of her infant carrier, put the car seat through, then fold the stroller and put it through too. I would say there were lots of people not too happy with me as I backed up the other side by having to retrieve and resetup the stroller system. If you know this ahead of time you can be better prepared than I was.

 

[koho]

We have taken our full size stoller on trips before. When we went to SFO two years all we had to do was remove everything from the stroller and push the stoller through the metal detector. And this happened at both CVG's and SFO's security check points. It might just depend on TSA agents working the check point on that day.

 

[all4fun]

Actually, NWA.com states:

Strollers: One fully collapsible umbrella-style stroller may be carried onboard, in addition to the carry-on luggage allowance. Strollers are only allowed on board the aircraft if approved storage space is available.

Northwest also accepts child carrier backpacks and strollers as checked luggage. Each item may be checked in lieu of one piece of luggage included in the free luggage allowance. When these items are checked as luggage, all excess, oversized and overweight charges will apply.

I don't recall having any experience flying NWA however we have been able to gate check strollers of all sizes on every airline we've flown on. I would definitely suggest gate checking over checking with your luggage. Keep in mind you'll have to get it through security, if it's too big to fit folded up thru the Xray machine, they will hand check it for you. Best way to deal with this is just to make sure you don't load the whole thing up with all your stuff. It will make the screening process easier. When we took our jogging stroller on the last trip we gate checked it, and since it's so large when folded, they hand checked it and then returned it to us on the other side.

Here's a link to the TSA.gov site (traveling with Children) that explains the screening process and other tips, in case you haven't seen it.

I would also recommend removing anything that's not bolted on to the stroller like any "after market" items you may have attached. Once I lost the cover to the "parent tray" of one stroller because it was the kind that just snapped on the top and it fell off somewhere never to be seen again. I've even gone so far as to remove the canopy on our umbrella and checked that part in one of the suitcases, just to lessen the chance of something getting damaged in transit. If your stroller is nice, you might want to bag it to help prevent it from getting dinged or dirty. I usually don't bother - but I did wrap the foam handles of our jogging stroller with bubble wrap to keep it from getting torn. That's a common complaint of damage that can easily occur when checking strollers. It worked so I'll be doing that again when we travel in a few weeks.

Anyway, before I really start rambling...lol...Hope this helps!

 

[mikehn]

Awesome, thanks