To take a big pushchair on an airplane?

[Aliveinwanderland]

I have a Mama's and Papa's zoom- am I mad to take this on a flight? DS will be 9 months old when we go. Have plenty of adult help with carrying things, but am worried about how big and heavy it is.

Should I buy an umbrella stroller instead? I prefer the zoom as it has a big hood to keep sun off and also have a parasol to go with it- it is pretty big though!

Thanks Notso, that's really helpful!

Yes the pop is an umbrella fold which I know is best for travel, but DS will be so small when we go I wanted something a bit sturdier. Can get a BJCM for about the same price as a pop too.

I've also had both the zapp and the bjcm. Everything the previous poster says is true! The one advantage of the zapp is that it folds so small that you can actually use it as hand luggage, there's a bag to put it in.

You can take any pram. The difference is a large pram will need to be checked in with luggage and carry baby in sling at airport. Small pram can be taken to gate.

When tony we took bugaboo chameleon all the time and just checke don with luggage. Meant they use daily as main bed whilst away and could sleep outside all day warm and comfy. It went on around 50 flights between two children and survived without a scratch.
I find sling in actual airport easier as can do stairs, and busy area easy. Plus can use on actual plane.
After 10 months when they couldn't fit in pram bassinet we travelled with just sling and no pram

ALso too many people taking small prams on plane like BAByzen in actual handluggage hold means your more likely your hand luggage bag will have to be checked in as not enough space for everyone taking small case plus pram to put in overhead

I would really recommend buying a good value umbrella stroller for travelling. I have a Zeta Voom (well two as I have twins) which we use when we go abroad. It lies flat and has a huge sun hood (as big as he hoods on my BJCM double) and folds easily. It's light and pretty robust. It also cost about 40 quid.

We first used them when the girls were 9 months (7 corrected) and they were brilliant.

I took my DD abroad for 6 weeks when she was a similar age, I bought a really good quality buggy from mamas and papas rather than use my bugaboo simply because I didn't want the bugaboo getting wrecked, I've seen enough buggies come off flight wrecked to know I didn't want to risk it. So, if you like it and you want to continue using it buy something you would be ok with getting damaged for a flight.

There's a company called airshell who operate out of most airports. You can hire a big padded bag thing for the stroller - coat is about 17 quid for a week. There are options to get extra insurance etc so if it does get broken it's covered.

Alternatively there are some excellent cabin sized strollers now. I have a pockit xss which is teeny. But it doesn't have a good sunshade or a recline. Something like a recaro easylife, carena cobbe or babyzen yoyo is a fantastic buy if you travel a lot.

Surely the more important point is don't take a fucking baby on a plane?!

User - erm why? Mine have taken planes every month since around 6 weeks old. They are far quieter and well behaved compared to many adults we come across on there..

Ds is pretty good on a plane. Sits on knee, peers out of window, then tends to fall asleep (amazing because he never does anywhere else...)

I took our M&P armadillo flip with us long haul - but I carried baby in a sling. The buggy was folded and wrapped up well with cling film and survived.

Our car seat on other hand. We had just bought it, wrapped it as well and put it under. The absolute wankers used a STANLEY knife to open the packaging (still no idea why) and ripped the fabric on car seat. Took week and half to get replacement seat from airline

Airshell do car seat bags too - the danger with putting a car seat in the hold is you often can't tell if it's been damaged :(

I brought my Uppababy Vista on a flight when my DD was 6 weeks old as I wanted to bring the carry cot. I bought a universal bag off eBay and it survived apart from a few scratches. The bag was ripped so I think we were lucky to get away with a fe scratches. I went and bought an umbrella stroller for my next journey (I travel every month or so either alone or with DH) as it is just so handy to be able to bring to the aircraft doors, especially when there are delays. There is no way I could carry my wriggly baby all the way up to the gate now (10 months).

I have the pop, bought for holidaying purposes. I ummed and aahed about it for ages because it was expensive for a stroller, especially one I only needed for flying but I'm pleased with it. The seat is nicely padded and feels comfy and the hood is brilliant. It doesn't fold quite as small as some other umbrella strollers as it's quite long but that wasn't an issue for me. It pushes nicely (for a stroller) too.

BA policy is:
"If you have a small, fully collapsible and lightweight pushchair/stroller (with maximum dimensions of 117cm x 38cm x 38cm/46in x 15in x 15in when the pushchair is collapsed), you'll be able to take this right to the aircraft door at most airports.
If you are checking in a large pushchair/stroller, please allow an additional 15 minutes so that the item can be safely and securely handed over to the Baggage staff."

I looked into it when we went on holiday last year. Of course other airlines might be different, but might give you an idea. Have a look at what the airline you're flying with do.

We took a small stroller an took right to the aircraft door rather than check in the big one. One thing to bear in mind is that (for us) it still got checked into the hold and we retrieved it from the baggage carousel with the rest of the luggage. So we still needed to carry DS and all his and our hand luggage from the plane after landing to the baggage reclaim. Wasn't a problem in our destination airport as was very small. Was a bit of a pallava at Gatwick though because it's so huge and have to walk for miles. They are supposed to have buggies you could borrow from gate - but none to be found.... I wish we'd brought the Trunki (despite most MNetters hating them ;-)) to wheel him about! So make sure you can manage to get from plane to baggage reclaim without the buggy. Also on the way home the destination airport had loads of steps that had to carry the stroller down, they could take wheelchairs 'behind the scenes' to avoid the stairs, but not buggies! I'd really recommend taking a carrier if he's only 9 months only so have hands free if necessary. Something that packs up small like a fabric ring sling, or a Connecta would be ideal!

I have heard of buggies being damaged in transit, just as with anything you check in. But we checked in a car seat and was fine!

I'm not sure if they do them in the UK (we live abroad) but some friends of ours have a sort of trolley thing which their car seat clips into, and then they push/pull their toddler a bit like another piece of hand luggage. It then folds up really small and she sits in her car seat on the plane, it works brilliantly. I forget who makes them but its one of the big brand car seat manufacturers.

We fly a lot, often long haul and often on light aircraft and seaplanes, we never take pushchairs or prams on flights, slings every time as so much easier. We often have to catch multiple connecting flights with a tight schedule we usually travel with hand luggage only.

I wouldn't take my proper pram personally, they throw them around and they could so easily get damaged. I would get a cheaper one and take that, it's smaller, lighter, and easier to travel with

I wouldn't take my proper pram personally, they throw them around and they could so easily get damaged. I would get a cheaper one and take that, it's smaller, lighter, and easier to travel with

Found a BJCM at a bargain price- however it's purple! I can put a boy in a purple pram right?

I took my son's massive pram on the plane several times! (flying abroad). Couldn't take it through the security, it had to be checked in as special luggage. He would only ever nap in that specific pram, so I needed it! Also have taken car seat in addition (for free).

And of course you can use a purple one! Purple is an awesome colour ;)

I used the pop with DD on holiday, DD was 7 months the first time we went and she was absolutely fine in it. Do make sure that whatever pushchair you take, you put and extra strap round it when you fold it up. We forgot on the way home, our luggage was massively delayed and then when it came on the conveyor the pushchair was half unfolded, the attached parasol broke and a wheel fell off! Luckily the pop has double wheels so we could still use it.

Would I be allowed to put whatever I take in a big blue ikea bag to keep it all together?

AEROPLANE. Not airplane. Unless you're an American.

Pseudoynm99- how do you know I'm not American? Does it really matter?!