Flying with a pushchair rant
By Kayt Sukel on Thursday, August 20th, 2009

For families travelling with small children, nothing can be more daunting than having to negotiate an airport without your pushchair. You are already likely to be carrying a nappy bag, car seat and at least one carry-on bag. The idea of adding a screaming child to that full load might put you off travel for good.

Flying with a pushchair rant

So why is it so hard for airlines and airports to have consistent gate-checking policies?

Inconsistent pick-up points

If I check-in my pushchair at the gate, I don’t think it’s too much to expect to pick it up at the gate. After all, isn’t that the definition of a gate check? If I wanted it at baggage claim, I would have checked it in with my bags.

Frankly, waiting for 30 minutes after I’ve disembarked only to be told that I can find my pushchair elsewhere isn’t going to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Worse, it seems that in the airports I regularly fly in and out of; I literally never know where I might find my pushchair upon landing. Sometimes it’s at the gate, sometimes baggage claim, and sometimes you have to wait on it at baggage claim bulky items.

I’ve never had the same experience twice – except, of course, carrying a screaming child and all his related junk through miles of airport corridors to get to baggage claim because my gate-checked item was not really gate-checked.

Check-in and gate attendants have no information

I understand that security concerns and the tarmac set-ups of some airports may make bringing prams up to the gate difficult and both airports and airlines have their own policies about gate check. I appreciate that but then tell me when I check in where I might expect to find my pushchair once I arrive.

Improved information online

The airport set-up hasn’t likely changed in the four hours I was in the air and knowing what to expect can help families – and their children – have a better airport experience. This information can also be placed on airline or airport websites.

Now I always ask at check-in or at the gate what to expect and no one ever knows. Is it really so difficult to find out? Airlines and airports need to have consistent policies about gate-checked items. I can’t imagine airport staff telling a disabled passenger that they will have to pick up a walker or wheelchair at baggage claim.

Nightmare travel experience for all

While I realise that having a small child is not the same as having a physical handicap, having that pushchair handy can make all the difference between a pleasant and a nightmare travel experience – for both the family in question and the other hundred passengers that share their flights.


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11 responses to “Flying with a pushchair rant”

Nick | 20 August, 2009 at 9:46 am

As a travel agent. WELL said…. as a parent… You are right!

Why can they not get there act togeather????

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Sam Daams | 20 August, 2009 at 10:29 am

I seldom see my wife get upset, but this is one thing that consistently annoys her when travelling!!!

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Brian | 20 August, 2009 at 12:58 pm

We’ve only traveled twice with a pushchair – once to the UK and the second time to San Diego. Both times with American Airlines and both times we never had any issues. Guess we were lucky :o )

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Chris Thompson | 20 August, 2009 at 4:27 pm

This is so true! At airports we’ve been to it’s not consistent either. The stroller could be at the gate, could be at “oversize luggage pickup”, etc. Very irritating.

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Kayt Sukel | 20 August, 2009 at 4:27 pm

It is annoying! And honestly, I’m not sure why it’s so difficult. The airlines have SOPs for every other possible thing. Why not put the information out for passengers?

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Nick | 21 August, 2009 at 10:23 am

Darren

I looked into this and ask why… The reason is two fold, handling agent and airport. The airports and handling agents do not follow airlines guides. Some airports do not allow it others say it not possable, so the airline is at the mercy of each airport.

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monica wakefield | 22 August, 2009 at 9:06 pm

well I have to say that exactly the same procedures apply whenyou are a wheelchair user – no consistent policies etc. I too don;t know why when you can go to the doors of the aircraft in your wheelchair why the same can’t apply at the other end. If you look back through the rants you will see that my son’s very expensive wheelchair was damaged by baggage handlers at Madrid because he was not allowed to get back in it at the aircraft and it was dropped of a truck because they did not know how to handle it. .my son can neither stand nor walk and has had to sit in some very uncomfortable chairs to be transported back to baggage claim departments . Different story but same effect..

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Duncan | 25 August, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Most irksome is the security personnel insistence that pushchairs be folded down and put on the conveyor belt to go through the baggage scanner. This invariably happens to me when my baby’s asleep and waking her up, juggling bags, and folding the buggy down is just downright awkward. And then she starts to cry. And the whole process becomes all the more stressful.

Don’t these people realise travelling with kids is stressful enough? Besides, it’d be far too logical and straightforward to just be able to push the buggy, infant in situ, through the walk-through scanner – wouldn’t it?

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Emily Ashwell | 26 August, 2009 at 10:36 am

Apart from the buggy issues, we have had real problems with car seats. No transfer company could guarantee us a car seat on a trip to the Caribbean, so we decided to take our own (which was one piece of luggage we could have done without carrying). Why can’t transfer companies get their act together on this? Surely it doesn’t cost that much to buy a few and it would save parents an awful lot of hassle, particularly in destinations that actively promote themselves to families.

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Rob | 26 August, 2009 at 12:06 pm

Agree completely and it’s the inconsitency that is the most frustrating thing.
We are often having to wait extra for the stroller / pushchair to appear. Partly because we don’t know whether to look at the baggage carousel, the “special” luggage area or even if it will appear at the door or the plane when we come off.

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dez | 15 September, 2009 at 9:48 pm

Maybe the idea is to discourage people to travel with children under 2 (those who don’t bring them enough money). I had to wait nearly one hour in Charles de Gaulles at 10.00 pm with a screaming baby who just wanted to get home and sleep… total nightmare.

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