How to Protect Stroller When Flying: All You Need to Know to Avoid Damage! 

While traveling, we securely pack our belongings but what about bulky accessories like a stroller? Besides being large, strollers are fragile and need to be handled with care; that’s why most parents freak out while traveling with a stroller. To ease you, here are some tips about how to protect stroller when flying.  

Living in a different state from my parents and sister, I travel far too often and am always careful so that strollers don’t get battered. With all the traveling all along, I have bagged more tips and hacks up on my sleeve. Here I am going to uncap, pouring out all the insights. So, if you are planning for an air trip with your baby stroller, this is the article you should read. 

Can You Take a Stroller on a Plane? 

Yes, most airlines let you carry a small, lightweight, collapsible stroller. Strollers like umbrella strollers are easy to gate-check while traveling on a plane. However, a bulky and heavyweight stroller that does not comply with the airline size and weight restriction might take its place in a cargo.  

Taking A Stroller Through Airport Security 

The check-in staff will tag your stroller. Then it will be taken for airport security check. Usually, the stroller goes through the x-ray like all other baggage. Note that if your stroller is too big to fit the x-ray machine, the stroller will be manually examined. 

How to Check a stroller? 

A stroller can be checked-in if it complies with the airline and airport policies. So, before packing your stroller, check your airline policy. Any stroller you carry can be checked in two ways:  

1. Counter Check 
2. Gate Check

Counter Check or Gate Check? 

A burning question that comes to mind is whether you should go for a gate check or counter-check the stroller. If your stroller is too heavy to carry around the airport, then it’s recommended to counter-check the stroller. Note that some airlines only allow strollers to be checked at the counter. For gate-checking your stroller, check if the airline allows gate-checking. If the airline allows it, then make sure to check if there are any stroller weight and size limitations.  

How to Gate check your stroller? 

If your stroller meets the airline’s recommended weights and size restrictions, it’s easy. The check-in staff will pop a tag around the stroller bag. Then it would go through the airport security check like other luggage. Once you are about to on-board, ground staff will take the stroller away. On arrival, the strollers will be delivered to you.

If, somehow, the stroller isn’t delivered near the gate; you can normally pick up your stroller with other luggage at the oversized baggage belt.  

Ways of how to protect stroller when flying 

Practice makes a man perfect. Eh, traveling with three kids and their strollers put me through a lot of that, and here are my tips and hacks on how to protect stroller when flying

• Get a stroller bag 

While flying, a stroller bag is necessary and is highly recommended. It will also protect the stroller from germs and dirt and protect the stroller from any kind of mishaps while checked in. 

• Bandage or wrap foam handles 

The foam handles of the strollers are usually the most vulnerable. Those handles can get slashed, especially in contact with anything force or sharp. So, as a precaution, wrap the handles with bandages and duct tape.  

• Use bubble wrap or tape 

If you are planning on gate-checking the stroller, consider using bubble wrap and tape to protect the stroller from getting any scratches and dents.  

• Use zip ties to keep the stroller collapsed 

This tip would be helpful if you don’t have any stroller bag and box and you are worried that the stroller might open up during the flight. Using simple zip ties is the solution you need. Simply fold the stroller and wrap the zip ties around the frames to keep it secure.  

• Use the airport courtesy strollers 

Most international airports nowadays are concerned about parents and babies, so they offer courtesy strollers. These strollers are nothing fancy, but you can easily check in your stroller and use courtesy strollers. 

•  Buy a cheap stroller 

If you have a full-sized premium stroller like Bugaboo Fox 3 and are worried about the stroller getting damaged, well, it might get damaged. To avoid that, an alternative solution is investing in a secondary, cheaper, compact, and lightweight stroller (that fits into an overhead bin, which is perfect!) for traveling.

•  Keep your stroller in the box  

Another way of securing your stroller while flying is to carry the stroller in a box. By carrying it in a durable box, the stroller will remain protected. However, you might need to pay an additional fee for the box’s excess size and weight.  

• On-board with the stroller 

Taking the stroller on board is the best way to protect it while flying. On-boarding with the stroller, you can easily avoid any kind of mishaps while gate-checking or counter-checking the stroller.  

If you want to on-board with the stroller, choose small, lightweight, compact fold strollers like Babyzen YOYO and GB Pockit+ as these strollers easily fit into the overhead bin compartment.  

• Put stroller accessories in your baggage 

If you are gate-checking your stroller or taking it on board, it’s best to remove any extra accessories or removable parts like a snack tray or detachable canopy.   

How to protect stroller when flying: Final thoughts 

Although protecting the stroller is not rocket science, and is a matter of concern since we cannot control anything that goes on as checked baggage. Baggage often gets mishandled by baggage handlers. But following the tips above on how to protect stroller when flying helps you to protect the stroller.  

FAQs About How to Protect Stroller When Flying 

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