Gate checking stroller ?

[MommyBryn]

WHen you gate check a stroller, do you drop it off before you get on the ramp to the plane, or right at the end of the ramp where you actually get on the plane? And do you leave it unfolded, or do you fold it up yourself? I ask because I have to put a bungee cord over our sunshade since it's kinda broken, so I'd need to fold it up myself

 

[FatElvis]

Yes, you leave it at the end of the ramp, just before you step on the plane. And yeah, I'd say fold it yourself, especially if there's a trick to it. I didn't do that once and the flight attendant had to come find me - LOL. Have a great trip!

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Right at the end, and you can fold it up yourself. I actually forgot to take off my small stroller bag attachment and it got lost. Thank goodness I noticed right away, and someone ran back and found it!

 

[Stimpy]

You bring it to the end of the ramp by the entrance to the airplane and leave it for the agents to bring down. It has to be folded.

We usually fold it before going down the ramp and just drop it off. But I don't know how old your child is. My daughter is old enough to walk herself so it isn't a problem getting everything down there (kids, carry-ons, jackets etc) without the stroller being open.

 

[amarberry]

It depends on the airline and airport. We fly out of O'Hare. When we've flown on United or TED, we take the stroller to the end of the hanger and then fold it up. When I flew on American in December, they made me fold it up and leave it before we started down the hanger. That was a pain...I was traveling alone with my 2 yo, her carseat, and the carryons. It would have been nice to have my stroller trolley for a few more feet!

 

[NotUrsula]

Just to be clear, you walk down a jetway to the aircraft (if it is a full-size jet), and you should ALWAYS fold the stroller yourself. It is best to wrap a belt or bungee around it to make sure it stays folded as it is moved; it is an easy thing for a ramp worker to put his hand right on the fold switch as he tosses it into the hold. (BTW, I've seen ramp workers put unfolded strollers into the hold fully open -- just imagine what kind of cartwheels they do all over the hold doing flight.) It is very unusual to be asked to leave strollers at the gate door rather than at the end of the jetway -- I would think that they would only do that if there was something wrong with the jetway door or outer stairs.

It is best to clean out the basket and remove ALL bags, parent trays, hoods, cupholders, toy bars, etc. from your stroller *before you leave home*, and pack those parts in your checked luggage. This is especially true if they just snap on and off. (If they come off with a screwdriver but stick out away from the stroller frame, you might as well pack the screwdriver in the checked luggage and do it properly. If they are tightly screwed on and fit flush to the frame of the folded stroller, you can probably leave them on without too much risk.) Remember that the main hold inside the aircraft is not usually pressurized; it gets VERY cold in the hold, which tends to make the plastic components on a stroller very brittle and more apt to snap, especially if it is hot on the runway, which creates a really broad temperature change in just a few minutes.

 

[MommyBryn]

It is best to clean out the basket and remove ALL bags, parent trays, hoods, cupholders, toy bars, etc. from your stroller *before you leave home*, and pack those parts in your checked luggage. This is especially true if they just snap on and off. (If they come off with a screwdriver but stick out away from the stroller frame, you might as well pack the screwdriver in the checked luggage and do it properly. If they are tightly screwed on and fit flush to the frame of the folded stroller, you can probably leave them on without too much risk.) Remember that the main hold inside the aircraft is not usually pressurized; it gets VERY cold in the hold, which tends to make the plastic components on a stroller very brittle and more apt to snap, especially if it is hot on the runway, which creates a really broad temperature change in just a few minutes.

See, this is what I wanted to do, but it's not looking possible. THe only thing I'm going to be able to take off completely is the little lid to the tray up by the cupholders (*my* cupholders). I can't get the sunshade off as it's connected to the fabric of the body...and that was my main worry because DH popped the little pin things out once, and so now if anything jerks on the sunshade hard enough, those come out. So I'm bungeeing the sunshade to the stroller and taping over hte little bolts in hopes they won't come out and we'll lose them. I don't really have any other option.

 

[karenTX]

You could get a stroller bag. That's what I did because I was worried about how damaged my Mac would be by the cargo hold. I bought ours from Target.com for $14 or 15. I wrote "Gate Check Stoller" in bright fabric paint on all sides. We were flying AA and yes, we had to give up the stroller at the gateway door and carry dd down the walkway to the plane. Hope that helps!

 

[MommyBryn]

You could get a stroller bag. That's what I did because I was worried about how damaged my Mac would be by the cargo hold. I bought ours from Target.com for $14 or 15. I wrote "Gate Check Stoller" in bright fabric paint on all sides. We were flying AA and yes, we had to give up the stroller at the gateway door and carry dd down the walkway to the plane. Hope that helps!

I wish I could. I can't find one that fits our stroller, though. It's pretty big- an Evenflo Aura. I attempted a few different "homemade" designed stroller bags, but couldn't get anything to work. So I'm really hoping that the bungee cords work well enough. We can't afford to buy a new stroller for this trip and it wouldn't be easy to afford to replace one, either.

 

[justhat]

We just bought a stroller bag from One Step Ahead. Check that one out to see if it's big enough for your stroller cause it seems huge. I think it said it will fit double strollers too. Of course, even with the stroller bag in the past our strollers have gotten very damaged, but we're hopeful this time!

 

[kristinanderic]

Our sunshade popped off and we were able to use plastic zip ties to get it secure again. Is that a possibility?

 

[NotUrsula]

Homemade works really well if you go with a sleeve design rather than a bag.
I've got one for every stroller I own.

All you need is a rectangular piece of rip-stop nylon and some sew-on velcro. You size it to the folded stroller and wrap it so that it lets the wheels and part of the handle stick out, then you can roll the folded stroller down the jetway.

 

[Stimpy]

I wish I could. I can't find one that fits our stroller, though. It's pretty big- an Evenflo Aura. I attempted a few different "homemade" designed stroller bags, but couldn't get anything to work. So I'm really hoping that the bungee cords work well enough. We can't afford to buy a new stroller for this trip and it wouldn't be easy to afford to replace one, either.

Ok, this is not the best looking option but it is an option LOL If you are only bagging it to keep the pieces together, try a heavy duty black plastic bag, like the construction grade type. Just put the stroller in and tie a knot at the top. We did this with DD's very large car seat last trip and it worked well. (We had the CARES so didn't need the car seat on the plane with us)

DId you try writing Evenflo about the sunscreen? I had a problem with the child's tray for our old stroller. It actually broke just like NotUrsula said while being checked, and just like she mentioned, we always unscrewed all the trays etc and packed them afterwards. (We now have a Mac and don't have any trays to worry about) This only time we had a problem with gate checking any stroller in about 16-20 flights....knock on wood! I emailed the company (I think it was Gracco or Evenflo, it was about 6 years ago) asking if I could buy a replacement tray and they sent me one for free!

 

[justhat]

Ok, this is not the best looking option but it is an option LOL If you are only bagging it to keep the pieces together, try a heavy duty black plastic bag, like the construction grade type. Just put the stroller in and tie a knot at the top. We did this with DD's very large car seat last trip and it worked well. (We had the CARES so didn't need the car seat on the plane with us)

DId you try writing Evenflo about the sunscreen? I had a problem with the child's tray for our old stroller. It actually broke just like NotUrsula said while being checked, and just like she mentioned, we always unscrewed all the trays etc and packed them afterwards. (We now have a Mac and don't have any trays to worry about) This only time we had a problem with gate checking any stroller in about 16-20 flights....knock on wood! I emailed the company (I think it was Gracco or Evenflo, it was about 6 years ago) asking if I could buy a replacement tray and they sent me one for free!

I have to comment on this cause we too had a Mac. Key word being 'had'. We gate checked it (in the Mac stroller bag) on the way to WDW last Christmas. 6:45am on our first day in WDW we picked up our tickets from the MK Guest Services and were strolling our daughter (then 22 months and about 23 lbs.) towards the turnstiles when one of the front wheels just popped right off. We rigged it on and went straight to first aid and taped it on with medical tape. It lasted the week and we brought it home, gate checking it again. It seemed to be in the same condition as when we left WDW. So a few weeks later we head to Arizona and gate check the stroller again (with the taped on wheel) and on the way home, we put our daughter in it at the airport and one of the handles broke off. The metal or whatever they're made out of just broke as though someone sawed it. As we put the stroller in the car the other handle felt loose so we jiggled it and it came off too. We had only used the stroller for 13 months so imagine our annoyance that it was now in 4 pieces!! So protect your Mac!!

 

[MommyBryn]

Okay...soo...I don't have time to buy a cover as we're leaving in the morning, but I attempted to whip up my own the one way I hadn't yet tried. LOL It might work. So if it's covered (part of the cover is see through), they won't forget that it's a gate check stroller, will they?? I'm planning on writing "GATE CHECK" on the cover.

 

[SarahKate]

I had called Southwest and they said that all you need is to just wrap it in a garbage bag and it would be fine. So we took about 4 black trash bags, a roll of packing tape (the type you can tear by HAND). When we got to our terminal, DH bagged it.......put a bag on both ends, then he poked a hole so the handles came trhough and that's where they tagged it. Used the packing tape to just sort of "mummy wrap" it. It took him maybe 2 minutes to do this.

And then when you get it at the end of the flight, you will be able to tear through the tape since it's the hand tearable kind.

We have a Maclaren Volo. No problems coming or going.

 

[2002Disneybride]

I had called Southwest and they said that all you need is to just wrap it in a garbage bag and it would be fine. So we took about 4 black trash bags, a roll of packing tape (the type you can tear by HAND). When we got to our terminal, DH bagged it.......put a bag on both ends, then he poked a hole so the handles came trhough and that's where they tagged it. Used the packing tape to just sort of "mummy wrap" it. It took him maybe 2 minutes to do this.

And then when you get it at the end of the flight, you will be able to tear through the tape since it's the hand tearable kind.

We have a Maclaren Volo. No problems coming or going.

Did you bag it up and take it down like that?
I just ask b/c when I called to ask SW the woman gave me a hard time when I said I had a stroller bag...she was like well, if you have a bag then obviously you aren't using the stroller! HUH!

 

[SaraMc]

We have a Graco Quatro Tour stroller and we removed the cupholders before we left home and used bungee's to make sure it stayed closed. The only cup holder we left on was the one at the front where my DS would use. Fine the trip down to WDW, coming home there is a small stress mark most likely from cold temps in the plastic. All in all with the bungee's it was fine. We checked it at the end of the ramp both flights.
We had some issues coming home and flew a diffrent carrier, ( southwest home instead of Jet blue, yes we flew after Feb 14th) And Southwest made us sign a waiver with the stroller saying that they were not liable if anything happened to the stroller inflight. We did this before we started to board, we pre-checked it where they just tagged it and we signed the waiver