To box my egg pram up to avoid airline damage?

[SenoraSurf]

We are going to Spain from UK with easyJet when DC1 will be 5 weeks old. We will be taking our beautifully stunning and expensive egg stroller with us. I have read online that you can take it free of charge and it will be put in the hold but naturally, I'm really worried about potential damage.
Would it be ok to box it up and check it in properly when we get to the airport? would I have to pay to do this?

Any experience or advice would be gratefully received!

Before anybody suggests it, getting a cheap one to take is not an option I would like to explore.

Thanks

Also many babies are 2 weeks late, my first was. We then spent a week in hospital for various reasons. When you plan to fly I had only been home for 2 weeks. Honestly I was in no state to fly.

Please don't think you have planned for everything. Your child isn't even here yet, even when they are you haven't really got to know them at that age plus they are constantly changing. My second baby was completely different to my first so the new born experience I had went out the window. You will need time to recover and bond, figure out this new life and how to care for it, the pram will be insignificant and flying will be the last thing I want.

I feel sorry for other passengers on the flight that will have to listen to a new born cry who may not be able to be settled.... as tablets and movies dont distract them, throughout a flight for their lovely relaxing holiday.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if op will have a nanny flying in by umbrella to help her out

I'd never take a baby on a flight until they'd at least had their whooping cough jab.

I'm assuming this is about needing, for whatever reason, to show off the expensive pram to family - for validation or because that's what they value.

Sling all the way. I've had three dc. My second was in his pram probably about 5 or 6 times, otherwise carried in sling, later ergo-type carrier to about 18mo. Number 3 came along a good few years after her brothers and we'd got rid of the baby stuff. I didn't even bother buying a pram for her (bar the Maclaren bought at just under a year and barely used until she was rising 2). Sling was so much more practical.

(Tbh I feel the same as some of the PPs about flying with a baby so young)

Yeah have to say I would've been in no state to fly at 5 weeks. I had the world's easiest pregnancy but then had a failed induction and EMCS, followed by a wound infection. It was actually a really good experience and I loved my section, and the infection was minor. But at five weeks I was still very much at that functioning but still recovering stage. Not to mention DD with silent reflux who couldn't lie flat...

OP, you've had a bit of a hard time here. Of course you'll want your parents to meet the baby and show her off as soon as you can. And you may well have the easiest delivery and easiest baby and sail through the whole trip, I hope you do. Just please don't put too much pressure on yourself. Life with a tiny baby is hard, don't make things harder than they need to be.

@SenoraSurf
I am so sorry you’re getting such a nasty reception.
Wrap it, check it and have lovely time. If you can find a replacement once you’re there to leave that’ll save the future hassle.

Friends of ours took their very expensive mountain buggy abroad, albeit on a long haul flight, and it was packed in its travel bag with padding but still arrived with a broken front wheel which couldn't be fixed until they arrived back in the UK. The airline did give them a buggy to use but it wasn't a patch on their own but they were grateful they at least had one. Airline also paid for their own to be repaired.

2birds1stone
Your post comes across as very spiteful.

Given that there might be other babies the most practical thing is to have a buggy, travel cot and car seat at the house in Spain. A 25 hour drive each time seems bonkers when you could fly if there was basic equipment already there . We vowed to buy stuff to leave there the day we tried to get 2 suitcases, a trunki and a massive car seat box on the stupidly small Gatwick trollies as well as pushing a toddler in our (cheap airport only) buggy. Holidays are meant to be fun- you shouldn’t have to ensure a mega journey or stressful packing for the sake of showing off the egg (and I speak as someone with a bugaboo so not adverse to having an expensive pram).

Also (see point on practicality above) do you want your egg smothered in sun cream? Because your lovely little baby will soon turn into a sticky messy toddler, particularly in a hot country.

Not spiteful. Op came on here looking for advice. She has clearly only acknowledged and entertained the ones who are agreeing with her. Not the majority who are warning her not to ruin her expensive pram. Op has alluded that she will now wrap it up as if it's being shipped, fair enough.

However she also came across very high and mighty saying she has considered all eventualities (like no one else did when they had a child) so now the mumsnet crew and sharing some home truths about what it's like pushing a baby out of your foof, dealing with the after math of your body being pulled apart and also handling a tiny baby who will be susceptible to germs on a flight which will take a few hours not including being in the airport either side.

So I simply alluded that perhaps the op has a nanny which is fine no problems with that, but her attitude still stinks.

I also sat next to a 6 month baby on a flight to Ireland who screamed the entire time due to the pressure in it's poor ears and it couldn't be consoled or distracted. A 5 week old may really struggle with that and in my opinion (which I am freely allowed to give) is not fair on the baby or other passengers who are on their jolly holiday.

I've been following this thread with interest as I had planned to do similar with my first born.

OP - box up your pram to within an inch of its life. Pad the travel bag, take the wheels off if you can and do this 2/3 days before you go so it's not a faff on flight day.
Ask your family to have padding etc ready so you can do the same on the return journey.

Hope to god that your baby will be okay in the sling at the airport.
Are you planning to breastfeed. Again hope to god that that works okay otherwise you'll have to take bottles, ready made stuff - presuming your family will buy a steriliser you.

Have you a car seat for the car journey when you land? Sort that out.

Passport etc that's just a gamble you'll have to take.

You CAN do this. It will be fucking hard and horrible but when you're there, you'll be glad.

Just pack loads of muslins, spare clothes, wipes.
Dummies - even if you don't agree with them - just pretend so that your flight companions can see that you are trying to soothe your baby.

It's all about mindset.
The PP's are just trying to prepare you but you sound very bloody minded in a nice way

Prepare, prepare, prepare.

You can do this, and will live to tell the tale.

Good luck and pay for excess baggage upfront incase you need it.

Just to add a touch of positivity... I have a 6 week old and would happily fly with him. I feel great, he’s pretty chilled and doesn’t really cry (only if I don’t recognise his hunger cues in time, and that’s easily solved). So it could be absolutely fine. However you have no idea until the time what it will be like. With my second baby flying at 5-6 weeks would have been hell on Earth.

I feel sorry for other passengers on the flight that will have to listen to a new born cry who may not be able to be settled.... as tablets and movies dont distract them, throughout a flight for their lovely relaxing holiday

Oh do get a grip. I think the OP is being ridiculous but your comment trumps her.

If you don’t mind your pram looking like this on arrival, go right ahead!

Oysterbabe that's a very good point!

I do think people are being overdramatic about the impossibility of traveling with a 6 week old. Yes, practicalities like the passport will need arranging quickly but other than that it's doable (though I agree I wouldn't want to expose my newborn baby to the germs on a flight).

The naysayers told me that I was underestimating how difficult it would be for me to do a long drive with a young baby and friends thought I was mad to attempt it but when DD was 7 weeks old we traveled 300 miles to stay with my parents and it was absolutely fine. When circumstances mean that you need to do something, unless something very unexpected happens, you tend to be able to make it work.

But that's all an aside. The thing about the pushchair is silly and a distraction from the necessary practicalities that need careful thought.

2Birds1stone. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with the OP or pointing out that you think flying with a 5 week old is a bad idea. However the way you posted came across as unpleasant. I presume that was your intention. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's not flying with a 5 week old that's a bad idea, but that at this stage the OP doesn't know that she won't end up having a 3 week old and a caesarian instead and in that case, will she even be fit to fly?

I have an expensive pushchair, not as expensive as yours but close. My mum bought it for dc1 who is almost 2.5. It has been used about 5 times as both my dc hate it so it lives in the loft. Just don't get upset if you find you cannot put baby in it for visiting or eating.

May I suggest a stretchy or woven sling or soft structured carrier? They are extremely convenient and are beautiful and can be as expensive and exclusive as a pram If you enjoy having luxury items (nothing wrong with that). There's one I want that is a silk one costing hundreds of pounds but I'm a bit too practical with that when I have 2 dc who are rather messy! You can carry them, without worrying about climbing steps, smashing and scraping a pram into a doorway, narrow streets and you can eat while baby is in it.

When I have used the pushchair it has been as a glorified trolley when I don't fancy carrying a backpack as well as the children.

More positivity from me. We flew with our 6w old without any issue. I actually flew alone. It's actually much easier when they are small. Airline staff were beyond helpful and we've skipped security queues, had new desks opened at check in, extra drinks on the plane as I was feeding etc

We also flew regularly with our expensive pram (one fold thought) and except for a few scuffs it has been completely fine. We've never bagged it up. It must have done 20-30 flights.

We take it all the way to the gate, and usually collect at the gate as we get off.

I would absolutely take a sling though: for walking up and down the plane, generally supremely useful when out and about, if you don't get your pram back at the gate and have miles and miles to walk....

More positivity! I flew with my son for the first time when he was seven weeks old. It was completely fine. He slept the whole time, peaceful as can be. Newborns and small babies are WAY more pleasant on planes than toddlers, and far less disruptive! Even if the baby does cry, newborn cries not that loud and likely will be drowned out by engine noise anyway.

@boringperson

No intention of being unpleasant. Perhaps frustrated that the op can't be bothered to acknowledge those that are offering their own thoughts, knowledge and opinion from their own experiences that are going agaisnt her desires. Which means she should be in parenting or travel and not aibu.

However this is the internet and written word so it can be hard at times to read something in the way someone is saying it in their own voice etc. That's the problem with anything written down it can be taken in the wrong way.

So OP based on another thread, your tastes have gone from not caring about brands to caring?

My mum is desperate to purchase the pram for our first child. I was happy to go second hand (not because we can't afford a new one, I'm just quite conservative with money tight arse) and see some practically new pristine ones for sale.
My darling mum wants to buy a new setup and she is very excited about going pram shopping this weekend with us. What is the average cost of a pram? She has very nice (and normally expensive) taste. I'm not as particular in terms of my taste, I'm not one for getting the branded fad, I just don't want something that is crap.
How much did you pay for yours? Was more expensive ones worth it? What's the most popular at the minute?