How to Gate Check a Travel Stroller Bag

To be honest I’d always turned up my nose at people packing the large clunky stroller with them at the airport and swore by this stroller but I now fancy myself a jogger and travel with a much larger stroller when traveling domestically. Take these steps to gate check your travel stroller bag and ensure it gets to your destination in one piece, even if your sanity doesn’t.

Reasons to use a stroller bag when you travel

Protects Stroller from Damage from bag handlers | The number one reason strollers get broken in transit is that they pop open en route and a baggage handler has to try to fold it back down in the middle of doing a heap of other things. Most strollers only have a flimsy latch to keep the stroller folded. Make sure the stroller bag you purchase has a strap to secure the stroller closed during travel, if not purchase a strong bungee chord and use the bungee cord over the bag.

In my experience * If you’re not going to use a stroller bag but still want to gate check your stroller while traveling be sure to attach the straps and bring a bungee cord to double secure it to prevent this from happening.

Travel stroller bag keep Strollers Dry | One of the best reasons to use a stroller bag when bringing a stroller to the airport is, protection from the elements. Even with a jetway, the stroller will be exposed somewhat to the elements at the very least

Before you travel, Prep your stroller

Preparation is key. Before leaving home, strip your stroller of all of its accessories like cup holders and toys. All of these items can be lost or broken in transit and will have to make it through each airport security checkpoints so remove them for your peace of mind. For some stroller models, it’s even a good idea to take off the sunshade since you’ll have little use for it in an airport.

What to do with your stroller bag when you get to the airport

Step One | Tell people at check-in you plan to travel with a gate-checked stroller, they will either provide you with a “Gate Check – Deliver At Gate” (or similar) tag or advise you where to get one. Securely Attach the tag to the stroller bag.

Step Two | Before leaving your stroller at the door of the plane, make sure to have the aforementioned tag visibly attached to the outside of your stroller bag. For most airlines this is a neon-colored tag, for example, United Airlines uses neon Green. Make sure the baggage tag can be seen and is sticking out somewhere.

Step Three | Pick up when exiting the plane. Thankfully Most U.S. based airline companies deliver gate-checked items to the door of the aircraft, or at the bottom of the stairs if deplaning from the tarmac making airport travel all the more easy with a child.

The key to traveling more often as a family is to travel in a way that makes your life easy if that’s with a stroller, invest in a stroller bag. So you can wheel that bad boy right up to the door of the plane, Gate Check your stroller, attempt to nap onboard, and plop your tot right back in it when you get off the plane.

Happy travels