Qantas from Heathrow and buggies

[FenLondon]

We'll be taking our dd to NZ in December, she'll be just on 5mo. Anyone flown Qantas from Heathrow (via Bangkok and Melbourne on the way out, Sydney and Singapore on the way back - no stopovers) recently who knows whether they'll allow you to take a buggy to the aircraft door? Obviously can't take on the plane as it's too big, but wonder if they'll put in the hold from the airbridge - will mean we've got somewhere to nap for the period between checkin and boarding if we can...

do they still share the flights with BA?

Haven't flown with qantas and a buggy, but most airlines let you take the buggy up to the gate

(also, what type of buggy? they can sometimes take them on board - we got our P&T Sport on board on a BA flight, which really helped us at landing, as had the buggy for both girls straight away, rather than struggling through to baggage reclaim...)

Yep Qantas do still codeshare I think, but these are Qantas operated flights (so I don't get to try out Terminal 5!). It's a bugaboo bee, which will fold down fairly small but probably not quite enough!

Qantas let us take our little collapsible pushchair on board. They will let you take your pram for free even if it's gigantic - we are about to fly with them and the Stokke is going in the hold and we will take the collapsible one for the airport after check-in.

Thanks ninedragons. We'll take the buggy to checkin and pull a strop if necessary. I'm sure a rested baby is worth someone manhandling a buggy down to the hold!

You can take it to the gate, but you won't see it again until NZ.

Ask - if you take it to the gate most airlines/airports will take it off so you have it for a stopover.

However - flying back into UK they won't take it off for you so be prepared that you will have to walk to baggage reclaim before you get it. Unless of course you do what I did and refuse to get off without it.

I actually can't believe that that is policy. But it is. Not insured to carry pushcairs apparently.

For the way back it's worth checking with the airport - Christchurch airport loan you a mountain buggy for in the terminal - which means that you can pack up your buggy more carefully for the trip.

Done it a few times and again on Monday! Urhgh!
You can take it to the gate at Heathrow and even on board if you get a really small umbrella style one. Don;t know about Melb, but Syd airport they won't let you take it to the gate unless it's small enough to go onboard, but they will get you a loan buggy to get you to the gate.
I can't remember what happened on the stop overs - was so exhausted by that stage it's all a blur! I do remember, though that we took a blanket off the plane so DS could have a wriggle about on the floor(at that age) to get some exercise during the stopover. Take a big muslin and some washing pegs or crocodile clips to secure the muslin over the basinet - it really helps them settle and get some sleep. Otherwise they wakeup every time the lights come on.

Thanks for the info everyone. Sounds like the twin demons of health and safety rule again! Good idea on the muslin and pegs.

In Australia, you can no longer take it to or pick it up from the gate. They changed the rules this year. Found out the hard way just after the rule change when I was told I could, then had to rush back, check the pram in, and then get back to the connecting flight which was already boarding .

Have had the pram 'lost' 2 out of 3 trips, got it delivered later that day the first time, and the next day the 2nd time.

Also was not waiting for me at Singapore as promised.

If catching connecting flights, the risk is not worth it, as you can miss the connection waiting for the darn thing to turn up. (Been there, done that.... )

All in all, have decided it's not worth the aggro and won't bother with it next time - will just use an airport loan one if I need to.