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#31
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Travel with Baby
wrote and I snipped:
Pologirl wrote: I wore a small backpack with the absolute minimum stuff: diaper change kit, spare clothes for MB, water, snacks. I carried the carseat hands free by buckling the harness and slipping my arm through it. On some trips, the earlier ones, I carried MB too some of the time, on my hip. On the later trips, he was happy to walk. Such a big boy! I maybe could manage this using M's harness, but considering the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth that results from trying to hold his hand while walking across a parking lot, I can't imagine the anguish of holding his hand across the airport!! Even with all the hassle, I *am* looking forward to not having a lap baby at Christmas. To say it's a PITA is an understatement. If I was ever traveling alone again with a young walking child, I would definitely use a harness in a busy airport even though I've never owned a harness. I had a very tense period of seconds (that seemed like an eternity) when I was hurrying through the Atlanta airport and lost DD. She must have been about 3-4 yo, and she walked away from me through a crowd to see an enormous poster on the wall for the upcoming Spiderman movie. She told me later that she wanted to hug Spiderman. I had DS (1-2 yo) in the carseat/luggage wheelie combo and 2 rolling suitcases. There was another traveler already helping me because I had about 30 minutes to get everyone from one concourse to another. I can't remember why I was alone, where I was going, or why I had so much stuff. I suspect that DH sent us ahead because he couldn't get on the flight at the last minute (we fly stand-by). But, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. -Patty, mom of 1+2 |
#33
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#34
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Travel with Baby
Jamie Clark wrote: Anne Rogers wrote: it's fairly usual for there to be a 10% charge for an infant, so it seems unusual to me that there was an option of her flying free, she should get a small baggage allowance and they will warm bottles and baby food, so it's doesn't seem unreasonable to pay a nominal charge, which is what 10% usually is, though once the 10% for our DS was over 500 pounds, glad we weren't paying for that one! Anne Maybe it's different in the UK, but here, a "babe in arms" doesn't cost extra. They do not get a baggage allowance, nor do the flight attendants routinely heat up bottles or baby food. I've never thought to ask, but I'm not sure how they would. On most flights I've been on in the past few years they wouldn't have a microwave or way to heat something up. I've flown on Delta and United, which are two of the major carriers, but perhaps some smaller airlines do offer more services. We just paid $250 for the privelege of carrying DD on our laps! The fee is due to the arriving airport's taxes. I haven't flown wihtin the US with her yet, this was from the US to Europe, and Geneva has particularly high fees. They didn't even have bassinets for the bulkhead area anymore! We got lucky tho as both flights had loads of space so we had a spare seat for her. She didn't get any official baggage allowance for that $250, altho we could have checked a stroller and carseat so I guess that'd be considered baggage. On flights were aheated meal service is offered, they have microwaves. |
#35
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Travel with Baby
PattyMomVA wrote: If you do this again, you should consider checking the stroller (only take one if you need it at your destination) and wheeling your daughter in the carseat attached to the luggage carrier. It's one less thing to take through the airport. We always did this with our two and got lots of compliments everywhere we went. -Patty, mom of 1+2 That's a good idea, except that the carseat and luggage carrier weren't as well behaved as they would have needed to be--the angle of the back of the carseat made it sit funny on the wheels. With the right combo, though, that's a good idea. I have actually seen in a baby catalog somewhere a carseat/stroller combination that has the pull-out handle like on suitcases (I've seen one or two in the airport as well). It's basically the same thing you talked about, except that the wheels and handle are built right in. I think it cost upwards of $100 (maybe twice that) though. If we plan to do much air travel with our second, it might be worth considering. --Elit. #1 8/24/04 #2 late march '07 |
#36
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PattyMomVA wrote:
Several posters have mentioned that you should gate-check your stroller. Be careful of what you ask for. My understanding is that a gate-checked item will be delivered to the baggage claim area upon arrival. I believe there's something that's called gate-delivery, and that's what you want to use for a stroller when you'll be using it at your destination to get to the baggage claim. I just caution you to look into it. Ericka Kammerer wrote: One should certainly check, but every time I've asked to "gate check" a stroller, it's been waiting for me just outside the door of the aircraft when we got off. The only time I had trouble gate-checking my stroller was arriving at Schipol airport in Amsterdam. Their policy is that the gate-checked items are delivered to the "special items" baggage claim area, which of course was miles away from our arrival gate. Since we were taking a connecting flight we had to collect the stroller, leave the airport (clearing customs) and then go back in to get to our next flight. What a hassle. Elle |
#37
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Elle wrote: PattyMomVA wrote: Several posters have mentioned that you should gate-check your stroller. Be careful of what you ask for. My understanding is that a gate-checked item will be delivered to the baggage claim area upon arrival. I believe there's something that's called gate-delivery, and that's what you want to use for a stroller when you'll be using it at your destination to get to the baggage claim. I just caution you to look into it. Ericka Kammerer wrote: One should certainly check, but every time I've asked to "gate check" a stroller, it's been waiting for me just outside the door of the aircraft when we got off. The only time I had trouble gate-checking my stroller was arriving at Schipol airport in Amsterdam. Their policy is that the gate-checked items are delivered to the "special items" baggage claim area, which of course was miles away from our arrival gate. Since we were taking a connecting flight we had to collect the stroller, leave the airport (clearing customs) and then go back in to get to our next flight. What a hassle. I haven't gate checked a stroller, but have frequently had to gate check items due to a small plane w/no overhead bins. Every gate checked item is at the gate upon arrival. I've seen loads of strollers at the gates so I assume this is common (both in the US and abroad) |
#38
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The only time I had trouble gate-checking my stroller was arriving at
Schipol airport in Amsterdam. Their policy is that the gate-checked items are delivered to the "special items" baggage claim area, which of course was miles away from our arrival gate. Since we were taking a connecting flight we had to collect the stroller, leave the airport (clearing customs) and then go back in to get to our next flight. What a hassle. ok, so how to we avoid this? we're flying via Amsterdam next week, we'll gate check the stroller in Manchester, we're not desperately bothered about having it at Amsterdam, but we certainly don't want to make a special trip just to get it, as we understand it, the rest of our baggage will be checked through to our destination, so the stroller either needs to do that, or be returned at the gate, not somewhere in the middle that hinders. Not sure how I can find out what will actually happen, the departure airport is rarely reliable about any information at the other end, so how will we get round this and how on earth do I find more info. Anne |
#39
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Anne Rogers wrote:
ok, so how to we avoid this? we're flying via Amsterdam next week, we'll gate check the stroller in Manchester, we're not desperately bothered about having it at Amsterdam, but we certainly don't want to make a special trip just to get it, as we understand it, the rest of our baggage will be checked through to our destination, so the stroller either needs to do that, or be returned at the gate, not somewhere in the middle that hinders. Not sure how I can find out what will actually happen, the departure airport is rarely reliable about any information at the other end, so how will we get round this and how on earth do I find more info. Anne Honestly I don't know. We were on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Amsterdam, and all the stollers went to special baggage so we had to walk waaaay over to that area and pick it up, which kind of defies the purpose. Air Canada has always otherwise given the stroller back at the door of the aircraft. Maybe you could call the airport or the airline and inquire. Elle |
#40
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Honestly I don't know. We were on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to
Amsterdam, and all the stollers went to special baggage so we had to walk waaaay over to that area and pick it up, which kind of defies the purpose. Air Canada has always otherwise given the stroller back at the door of the aircraft. Maybe you could call the airport or the airline and inquire. we've had to call the airline for other things and they have been most unhelpful, insisting that we go via the booking agent, so I'm not inclined to call again. Also general experience is that they rarely know what actually goes on at specific airports. I think we're going to have to take the chance of checking and double checking at both check in and the gate when we depart, at least it's a KLM flight, so there is a chance that the KLM workers will know what is going on at Amsterdam, rather than if it was a non dutch airline with just one flight going in. Anne |
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