Taking a Double Stroller on Airplane

miriamg

Sun, Aug 16 2009, 1:24 pm

We're going to be flying Swiss from US to Israel in a few weeks, with a toddler and infant. We have a City Mini Double that we need to take with us. Does anyone have experience with this? Were you able to gate check your double stroller or did you have to check it in as a piece of luggage? Any information would be appreciated.

(When I called Swiss they basically told me that my infant is entitled to a stroller and my toddler (just 2) is not, but that's pretty ridiculous - my toddler won't actually walk through the airport! Is this true - or is it just the rules on paper but never enforced?)

thanks!

slushiemom

Sun, Aug 16 2009, 1:27 pm

Don't know about Swiss air, but a couple months ago we flew from Israel to US with a toddler and a baby also- we were on 6 planes over the month and each time was not a problem to take the double all the way up to the plane and pick it up right when we landed.
We also took a car seat for the toddler on each flight and it was a bit shleppy but TOTALLY worth it! He was comfortable, he was used to it and he could sleep easily. I highly suggest that! Be glad to answer any more q's about the travel...

Marion

Sun, Aug 16 2009, 1:30 pm

Unless you have the bulkhead seats (with a basinette for the baby) I do NOT recommend taking the carseat with you!

As an alternative to the double, when I travelled with my 7-week old and not-quite-2 year old I took the single stroller (travel system) and wore the baby...much simpler & the travel system had a better basket too.

YALT

Sun, Aug 16 2009, 1:39 pm

I've never flown SwissAir, but I've flown plenty checking in both the Phil&Ted double & the Combi double at the gate. And DS was always over 2 when we had double.
I found it better to take a carseat that toddler can also fit in. You can put either one in it to keep them still or to fall asleep.
What we did the past 2 times is we put to sleep the kids in our arms & then layed them by our feet ontop of blankets. They slept almost the whole way NY-UK.

Mrs Bissli

Sun, Aug 16 2009, 4:10 pm

I've flown Swiss quite frequently, I found them efficient and pretty accomodating for families. They should be able to gate-check the stroller at your departure city. However it's checked-through to TLV so you won't be able to retrieve it at the connecting city. Zurich airport is quite big esp if the transfer can involve different terminals.

BTW they give nice goodie bags for the children (puzzles, stuffed airplane toy) though maybe better suited for slightly older children.

toastedbagel

Mon, Aug 17 2009, 5:09 am

You can gate-check a double on Qantas, British, Northwest, Spirit, don't remember which other ones... you can prob have a double even if you are travelling with only the baby (although why would you want to?), the airline won't look at that, to them, a stroller is a stroller. The only thing you might find is certain airports (for example, my home airport) will not gate check at all - not strollers, not wheelchairs, nothing - they just don't have the facility. So they check your stroller with the rest of the luggage but then they can get you a loaner stroller to use in the airport and just leave and the gate. If you find that not even that is offered, then ask for and insist on help from the airline staff.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Aug 19 2009, 5:29 am

Marion wrote:

marion I have to disagree. we just got back from south africa, a 9 hour flight and I have to say that going there, a night flight, thank G-d we had a car seat and we did not have the bulkhead. I do notthink that my daughter (a year and 3 months) would have slept in the regular seat.

Marion

Wed, Aug 19 2009, 5:38 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Marion wrote:

Yes, but you were travelling with one child. If you have 2 young kids and no carseat (when you're not in the bulkhead) you can lift the armrests and seat both kids. Or lift the armrests and have a little more wiggle room. or lift the armrests and your toddler can "lie down" to sleep, with her head in your lap.

We just did this. On the way TO Toronto we thought we'd be smart and take the carseat. We were 4 in 3 seats, DS#1 did NOT want to be the one confined to the carseat, but when we hit turbulence he HAD to go in the carseat. But his brother didn't. The tray/table doesn't fit over the height of the carseat, so we had 3 meal trays for 4 people (lap child not entitled to an airline meal) on 2 trays. We also couldn't use the tray for any of the stuff we'd brought to keep him busy...crayons, stickers, etc. He didn't sleep at all (11 hours!) because he wanted to be cuddled like DS#2, but there wasn't room.

Needless to say, we checked the carseat on the way back. We had the use of all the trays. We had where to put down the "baby" if one of us had to use the bathroom. The kids put their heads down in our laps and napped. It was much better.