Taking ocarro on a plane to NY in January.

[J09x]

We're travelling from London to New York in January 2024 and DS will be 20 months.
We are taking his infant carrier to put in the hold as he doesn't have his own seat but need it for transfer to and from the hotel.
We also have a mamas and papas ocarro that I am considering taking. It is our main pram and my main reason for wanting to take it as apposed to a lightweight cheap pram is the warmth and comfort ability of it. It will be very cold and I don't think he will be as warm and comfortable in a cheaper buggy.
I don't want thr ocarro to get broke so I was thinking to get a bag and take the wheels off when we fold it up. And hopefully take it to the gate too.

Is this a silly idea? Has anyone travelled somewhere cold with baby? This will be our first holiday and does anyone recommend putting carrier in the hold... or no?

Thanks.

A 20 month old won’t fit in an infant carrier style car seat so you will need to rethink that. Also probably US and UK seats are quite different and it’s technically illegal to use a British seat there, unlikely you will get caught but visually it’s obvious as American seats have cheat clips. In addition seatbelts function differently over there with the way they tense so I’d be concerned about the safety of a belt installed foreign seat. In NY you can do Uber car seat and you get a ride with a toddler seat, I’ve always found availability fine. Or public transport is really good.

As for the pram, you need a top notch foormuff, and something that isn’t heavy if you have to do stairs on the subway. Pavements are usually cleared pretty quickly of snow so I wouldn’t be overly concerned about not having massive snow tires. We lived in Chicago when DD was small so are no strangers to a brutal winter and were fine with a YoYo most of the time, the footmuff on the YoYo is particularly good, far superior to the one that came with icandy.

Sorry US car seats have CHEST CLIPS not cheat clips 🤣

We took an Ocarro on a plane and wheeled DS right up to boarding with it, the staff then took it and put it in the hold (all fine, no bag) and then got it out of the plane and put it on the tarmac when we landed and we got it as we walked past. Obviously different with a smaller plane and walking across the tarmac (we went to Portugal) - maybe ask the airline what they can do?

Honestly, I wouldnt think about it now. It’s nearly a year away and things change so often with a baby and toddler it’s almost impossible to imagine what it will be like in ten months time.

In my experience of travelling extensively with babies and toddlers, for a city (and I’ve been to NYC with a 9 month old and then when he was 22 months, and then with a 6 month old and a 3 month old - just take public transport and ignore the car seat stress. By 20 months they will be in a bigger car seat than the infant carrier - if you do decide to take it, buy a draw string back back for the car seat (Amazon) so at least you can carry it on your back through the airport.

with prams, I think lightweight with a super cosy foot muff is easiest - not many subway stations have lifts or escalators so you will end up carrying it a bit. I’d also take a carrier so you can just sling him on your back

6 month old and 3 YEAR old …. 🫣

My understanding was that Ubers in New York are much better at having car seats - some friends who moved back just after they had their second child were complaining that London Ubers don't do the same. I'd also recommend a lighter pram with a foot muff. They're very warm and will be so much easier for managing in New York than a bigger pram.