Blessedly for all parents, airlines as a rule allow for babies and toddlers to travel with their strollers for free (Hallelujah!). We have yet to fly with any company that this isn’t the case. Even Norwegian Airlines – the people that charge 3 Euros for a cup of water – allow a car seat and stroller to be checked for free.
As you read below, bear in mind that I am the type of person that thoroughly enjoys having a stroller around. If I could get away with flying with one once my children were in their teens, I absolutely would. There’s something attractive about having, essentially, a free personal push cart available for all your stuff to glide easily around the world on, complete with cup holder. Am I a bit lazy? Probably maybe.
First: Do you need a stroller at all?
If you have a child under the age of 6, I would say ‘yes‘. Even if you have an independent child under 6yo that insists on walking, as we do, you can use the stroller to hold any carry-on bags in the airport, or shopping bags/diaper bags at your destination.
What about historic (aka not wheel friendly) cities?
The two most ‘stroller-challenging’ cities we’ve been to recently are Venice and Mexico City. We often had to have the kids climb out so we could lift the strollers up and over a deep curb or a set of stairs. By ‘often’ I don’t mean every 5 minutes, but at least 5-10 times during a single day.
Our hotel in Mexico City was on a main street, mere steps from a huge shopping mall. Getting to the mall meant navigating both strollers over very precarious sidewalks, with 9″ curbs, 2 sets of 3 stairs, a few holes in the water main grates and 2 street crossings with no crosswalks. I promise you – this was a sidewalk where people were meant to walk. I wasn’t trying to do anything funny. The first time I did it, I thought we’d die. The second time, I was mildly frustrated. The other 15 times I did it, it was old hat. I knew exactly where the best place was to let down the stroller wheels. I knew how to gauge the flow of traffic so we could cross safely. And my kids knew too. They were prepared.
It’s ultimately up to you, but even with the “Ugh!” trip getting to and from the mall each day, it was absolutely worth it to be able to have a safe place to keep my shopping bags, a place to let a tired child rest for a few, a ‘changing table’ for the emergency blowout, and to be able to buckle the sassy kid in when she started to kick off. You do the math for your own family and do what works for you.
Do I need my twin/triplet/quad stroller?
Multiple mamas – here’s where I need to divide you up a bit.
Twin mamas: If you are traveling with another adult, I recommend taking 2 single strollers instead of a double stroller. Dad and mom can each push one, dividing up the work. It’s also lighter-weight. We have traveled with our twin stroller, but only until the kiddos were ~18-months-old, and I wish we’d converted sooner. Having 2 strollers has been lovely, because if you ever need to split up, you can and no one gets stuck with everything. And generally speaking, 2 single strollers take up a fraction of the space of a double stroller in a rental car trunk. We own this stroller (that folds small) and this stroller (that folds even smaller, actually fitting under a plane seat!) and I ADORE both of them. They each can fit in the backseat, in the space between the carseats and the floor, even in a tiny European car.
Triplet mamas: You may not have 3 adults traveling with you, so the twin rules don’t apply fully. But if you can get away with a double stroller + a single stroller, it still ‘divides & conquers.’ If you do happen to have 3 adults, you can definitely use 3 single strollers.
Quad mamas: Same as triplet mamas, but (2) double strollers
Quint mamas: Bless your hearts for traveling at all while your kiddos are little. I applaud your ambition! 🙂 Depending upon how many adults you’re traveling with, adjust the information above to fit your needs.
Singleton mamas with multiple kiddos: As you can read under the ‘twin mamas’ section, I am a huge proponent of dividing up responsibilities. Mom need not be stuck doing everything! So depending on the number of kids and their ages, you’ll want to consider your specific solution. 1. How many of your kids still ride in a stroller?; 2. How many of your kids are still unable to carry any of their own luggage? (i.e. how much stuff are YOU going to end up carrying?); 3. How many adults are traveling with you?; 4. How much space do you have (in every place you’ll be, including the rental car & the car you’re taking to/from the airport)?
You Want Me to Buy a New Stroller?
No! Unless you want to, of course. If you are a twin family with only a double stroller, jump on your local moms group social media page and ask to borrow single strollers! At least where we live, most families own more than one stroller, so it isn’t any problem to loan one out for a bit. Ask anyone you know that currently has children, or go on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, etc. and find an inexpensive one you can resell once you return home.
To Make Things As Simple As Possible for Yourself
A. Minimize! If your stroller doesn’t fold very flat/compact, I highly, HIGHLY recommend borrowing or buying one that does. Once we did this, it made life so much easier.
Case in point: We once flew from LA to New York City, to visit family in PA. Our stroller, although handed directly to a baggage handler from the jetway, was not loaded onto our flight. Once they realized the mistake, they put it on the next flight, but that plane wasn’t due for hours. It was late. We still had 5 hours to drive. The NYC help desk said, just let us Fedex it to you. Ok, fine. Off we went to PA. Two days later our stroller appeared at my mom’s house. It was a little torn, and I was honestly a little miffed. Fast forward: we’re packing up the car to go back to the airport. We could not fit the stroller in the car. No way. We had too many bags, and that double stroller was impossibly huge. I ended up abandoning it at mom’s house, and it sits there to this day. Only then did I realize, Thank God the baggage handler *had* forgotten our stroller, otherwise we would’ve had to abandon it somewhere at La Guardia, and not been able to use it at all during our trip! I basically got it shipped for free! In short: don’t be me! 🙂 Get the smallest stroller you can afford.
B. Clean it out before you leave home! If you’re taking your everyday stroller, and yours accumulates stray snacks/toys/mysteries as well as ours does, take 5 minutes and clear 100% of everything out of it. Super short on time? Just get 2 bags and toss trash in one, everything else in the other to sort later. If you’ll be taking it through airport security, do not put anything back. If you’re simply doing a road trip, feel free to organize as you’d like.
C. Don’t take a stroller you’re not comfortable having dinged/dented/ripped! If your stroller doesn’t fold down small enough to fit in the overhead bin, it will be checked. It’s going to get jostled around, and even if it’s in a bag/case, there’s a decent chance it’s not going to come back to you in mint condition. As much as it would be amazing to have our Wonderfold Wagon at any destination, I would absolutely never fly with it, unless I was allowed to buy it a seat beside me.
Note: European airlines don’t seem to be on board with the ‘foldable stroller’ deal – even though our stroller would’ve fit under the seat, I was still required to check it at the jetway.
D. Forego the bag/case unless it has a strap or handle. We’ve never used any of the bags that came with our strollers. We’ve always checked them ‘naked’. I follow point C, above. A/I think having a bag hides the baggage handlers’ natural places to grab your stroller to move it, making damage more likely, B/Getting the bag on & off the stroller requires extra time, C/It’s one more thing to carry
E. If you’re borrowing a stroller, practice folding & unfolding it until you’re a natural! You don’t want to be holding up the line trying to fold up a stroller (been there!) or yelling instructions to another adult traveling with you (also been there!). Be sure that whoever is going to be folding/unfolding your stroller knows how to do it!
If I think of any other helpful hints, I’ll be back to edit this post. But in the meantime if you have any tips that everyone else could benefit from, please share them below. Horror stories also help us all grow 🙂 If you have any specific questions about traveling with a stroller, please leave a comment down below.
Happy travels!
Kristie
