We’re off to Greece in a couple of weeks with our two children. A three year old and a 7 month old. So we need to take our buggy to the departure lounge with us. I think we read somewhere that the buggy needs to go in a bag when they take it from us at the departure gate, but I can’t find where I read it.

Is it a legal requirement to have it in a bag? as we’re struggling to find anything that’ll fit ours without it costing a small fortunes (~£80!).

Does anyone have any experience of this?

We’ve never needed a bag. Just fold it up and leave it by the steps (or in the tunnel) when you board has been my experience of many flights with a buggy.

the airline will be able to confirm (which one?)

We’ll have this issue, first foreign trip with ours in June.

What do you do about airport-hotel transfers you wont have a coach to take you? I cant see the point in hiring a car just to go an hour down the road, wife wont let us jump in a taxi without proper kiddy seats so either sort out a vetted transfer company with kiddy seats, take our seats or something else.

I believe you’re allowed to take car seats too and can be checked in along with your baggage allowance.

Luckily we have a coach to take us, but I think if we didn’t I’d jump in a taxi and take our seats. Would be a bit of a faff though as you’ll have enough to carry!

Years since I’ve flown with kids but we always just handed the buggy over at the aircraft door, no buggy bag nonsense. We favoured the simple collpasable McLarens not least at they where good on flights.

This sort

prezet, I really dont want to take our seats as we’ll need 3, just the children will be enough!

Looking at car hire and transfers some you can book kiddy seats with but past experience shows car hire companies to be somewhat variable.

We’ve always left our buggy at the steps when boarding the plane. You have to to put it through the scanner at security though which can be interesting when you’re juggling very young children and hand baggage.

We’ve hired car seats before as well and never had a problem. The harder part is coming to terms that holidays with children this age are not holidays they are just childcare in a different location.

Could be worse though. You’re three year old could explode in chicken pox the day after you arrive on your ‘lets just hang the cost and buy the best holiday we can afford somewhere hot because in three months we will have another baby and our options will be even more limited’ holiday. 😥

we went up to the departure gate and they took the buggy, and put it into a special clear plastic bag (which is really tough, and I kept it for wet kit) and waved us on. first, too.

Yeah, as others have said, leave at steps folded. Use a stroller rather than something that folds into separate bits. Don’t remind me of the faff of going through security with a toddler. 😡 Make sure everything is bagged and ready to pop onto the belt. Have the absolute minimum amount of shite. No, really!!

I asked BA not long back this same question and as others have said, both a buggy and car seat are part of luggage and when i asked they said werent part of your weight allowance. the car seats clearly get checked in so at least you wont have to carry them any further than out the car onto a luggage trolley. The buggy will be used by your little one and left at the plane door. I’ve seen some people wrap them in a plastic bag but it isnt a requirement i dont think.

Oh, and count yourself lucky, we have twins so double the fun and double the luggage.

Never needed a bag for a stroller, but thought it was a good idea to use a bungy strap to keep the buggy closed between drop-off and pickup.
Bungys are ace!

we’ve taken strollers/buggies right to the gate many times with no issues, no bags required, always been at the bottom of the steps or mouth of the boarding tunnel when we got off.

Car seats also taken many times. However, they never turned up frequently on arrival in Edinburgh, where-upon BAA are required to give you a replacement there and then.

They had a wee store room packed with brand new car seats of different types to suit different ages.

They also told us not to bring it back, as of course, by law, they cannot give out a “used” car seat without knowing the provenance. Bonus!

Think through a few trips BAA were able to deck out both sets of grandparents cars with enough seats for 3 kids of different ages. Seriously! Gotta love the UK. No idea what might happen in another part of the world though!

If they want it in a bag they’ll give you a large plastic bag to cover it up. You see loads of pushchairs, no worries.

Or – use a sling. Vastly easier imo.

Those Maclaren strollers (is that the new word for ‘pushchair’?) are great – so much more practical than the Rolls Royce massive things that new parents seem to have been conned into buying!

Years since I’ve flown with kids but we always just handed the buggy over at the aircraft door, no buggy bag nonsense. We favoured the simple collpasable McLarens not least at they where good on flights.

This, +loads. The McLarens are so much easier to manage when you’re travelling. And when I flew to London two weeks ago the parents were leaving the buggies at the plane door, no bags involved that I remember seeing.

Quinny Zap is a lot nicer than a McLaren IME, and still folds as small. Ditch those monster ones as soon as you can.

Quinny Zap is a lot nicer than a McLaren IME, and still folds as small.

Quite possibly – I haven’t needed a buggy for over 8 years, so I’m out of touch. But I can clearly remember how much easier it was travelling with a lighter/smaller model!

Use a stroller rather than something that folds into separate bits.

This isn’t really an option. The 7 month old is still too small to go into a stroller, so we’re having to take something akin to a bugaboo.

Take the biggest one you can, we take our jane salamon or whatever it’s called, plenty of room for the little ones to get comfy in..which means you can stay out longer..we flew with thompson to Greece and just wheeled it up to where you get on and picked it up when we got off,no bags needed,,also you probably no but ignore that babies on first announcement and get on last,way I see it the less time your restraining them in a tiny seat you have less chance off them kicking off.

The 7 month old is still too small to go into a stroller, so we’re having to take something akin to a bugaboo.

Why can’t you use a sling for the flight and check the pushchair in?

You can check the push chair in, but they are handy if the little one falls asleep plus for bunging all the wife’s shopping on!!

Why can’t you use a sling for the flight and check the pushchair in?

Then I guess we’d be in a similar position of having to put it in some kind of bag. The longer we have it in our possession the less time the baggage handlers have for breaking/losing it 😀

It’s a lot easier to wrap it up and check it in at the desk than it is to try and get it sorted at check-in – on some airlines anyway.

they are handy if the little one falls asleep

Babies sleep in slings all cuddled up to you.. it’s lovely 🙂

We took a 6wk old baby and her 4yr old brother to St Lucia (Hated every minute of it). My parents took us to the airport and on the morning of the flight handed us a brand new stroller type pushchair similar to the McLaren pictured. We had the all singing all dancing car seat/pushchair/pram type affair but my mum insisted this would be so much handier. She was absolutely bang on.

Parents get hung up on having the latest craze in prams (Very much like bikes). This thing wasn’t cheap but was infinitely lighter and more practical for us. Most of these things can be laid back horizontal for the baby. They have shades for sun. They have basckets on the bottom, they fold up with a swift kick. They weigh nothing etc etc etc.

It was so practical that we quickly realised what a piece of fashionable junk the other pram was (Mammas and pappa whatever £££££) and preferred the stroller.

1st kid was a bit of a venture into the dark, second we realised that having something that works far outweighs something that looks good or is fashionable.

Oh and on all our flights with buggies they let you check them into hold and take them through boarding and leave them in the tunnel just before you boarded.

If your kids are a little older, trunki booster backpacks are good as a bag and booster seat. Shop around and you don’t need to pay full price.

Only issue with traditional pushchairs and little babies, imo, is that they can’t see you. That’s why we went with a sling when they were small and went to a forward facing small pushchair when they were old enough to want to look around. 6m or so I suppose.

Bah, double post.

In general I’d agree with the above but I’ll just add a note of caution with respect to BA..and also echo the advice that small is probably good. On a flight from Calgary to London at check-in they told us the buggy was “too big” to be carried up the steps at LHR and so it would come through with the rest of the luggage. This surprised us as it was a babyjogger and a lot smaller than some.
At the gate handed over buggy and crossed fingers.. On the flight the chief purser came and told us not to worry and it’d be at the gate. Came off flight and saw buggy so all good. However other people weren’t so lucky and had to carry tired grumpy toddlers through immigration and wait for them to re-appear.