Travel with Children - Collecting stroller airside at LHR - latest situation?

I know there are some threads about this around, but I'm not sure of the latest situation. Can gate-checked strollers be collected airside at the plane in LHR?

Will be travelling alone with my 9-month old (CX business), staying at an LHR hotel, and taking an onward BMI domestic the following morning. Then transiting straight through with him again a few weeks later. Will be during the Olympics which I'm sure will make matters worse...

Any current info appreciated!

My last experience in LHR was in May of this year coming in on LH from Germany. Strollers were delivered by the flight crew (!) to the jetway upon arrival.

hope this helps...

Arriving at LHR yesterday i noticed strollers were returned on the jetway upon arrival, but have heard that it can still depend on the airline

Arriving at LHR yesterday i noticed strollers were returned on the jetway upon arrival, but have heard that it can still depend on the airline

It is airline/terminal/gate dependent, so you are best off contacting them and finding out their procedures. I was told that the problem was the baggage handlers weren't allowed to carry them up stairs for H&S reasons, if the gate doesn't have a baggage lift then they would send them to the reclaim belts. More lifts were being installed, so it depends on which LHR terminal you arrive in. To get round this some airlines are nice enough to send down FAs or their own ground crew to bring them up to the gate.

It is airline/terminal/gate dependent, so you are best off contacting them and finding out their procedures. I was told that the problem was the baggage handlers weren't allowed to carry them up stairs for H&S reasons, if the gate doesn't have a baggage lift then they would send them to the reclaim belts. More lifts were being installed, so it depends on which LHR terminal you arrive in. To get round this some airlines are nice enough to send down FAs or their own ground crew to bring them up to the gate.

I was on VS landing at T3, only with QR also T3 have i not noticed or personally not had the stroller returned on the jetway at LHR and i've flown a number of different airlines into LHR :) Although unfortunately not CX

Hello,

I'll be flying ORD-LHR-MAA by BA. Not quite clear about whether gate checked stroller at ORD will be available when I deplane at LHR. Has anyone flown BA recently to LHR and done/seen this?

Thanks!

AA flying into LHR routinely provides for airside strollers (speaking in this case of that in conjunction with gate-area/jetbridge-area delivery on arrival). But it can take a lot of time for delivery .... so much time that eats up even more time given the wait for delivery may well invite even more awful delays at passport control than if not having waited for the airside stroller. [For most of my ORD-LHR flights on AA and BA in the past three months, my bags make it out to the belt long before I get to the passport control desks at LHR. (No fast track passport control facility at T3 for many of those who take a delayed, daytime AA ORD-LHR flight.)]

Thank you! I will be in transit at LHR, and won't be going through immigration etc. Just wondering if it is worthwhile to carry my stroller if it will not be made available airside at LHR....

That'd really depend on whether BA would let you take it on the plane, you might ask on the BA board about whether BA return strollers airside or not

That'd really depend on whether BA would let you take it on the plane, you might ask on the BA board about whether BA return strollers airside or not

Most often BA does not provide for delivery of strollers on arrival at LHR except at baggage claim. Gate/jetbridge/step-area delivery at LHR is most frequently denied by BA when transiting LHR.

This is a situation where flying into LHR on AA and connecting to BA can be far better than doing a BA-BA transit at LHR.

A poster on another forum recently contacted the airport authority and was told Gatwick and Heathrow are too busy to deliver strollers airside.

Confusing, huh?

A poster on another forum recently contacted the airport authority and was told Gatwick and Heathrow are too busy to deliver strollers airside.

Confusing, huh?

There is nothing confusing about it at LGW and LHR, as the operating airline is the one determining if "gate"-area delivery is to happen or not. BAA and its sort around London do not ultimately determine practices in this matter of stroller delivery at the gate/jetbridge/tarmac-area.

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful. Looks like it will depend on CX - they are usually great about gate checking when we're traveling more locally around Asia so fingers crossed.

My experience at LHR has been pushchair delivery to baggage collection, though I was on GVA-LHR on LX and was pleasantly surprised there were pushchairs (including one double buggie) delivered on airside at T1. Admittedly it was a bus gate so no BAA workers not permitted to carry pushchairs on stairs nonsense...

Our last experience arriving on LH was confused but OK in the end.

Instructed to go down the escalator (to what seemed like about tarmac level) and wait there. Thought that was reasonable as there was a door to outside right there. Waited and waited with a few other families until we saw other families exit the lift (from above) with strollers. Waded upstream to find that strollers had been delivered at the end of the jetway.

Lesson: They don't have any system, and airline/ground employees are simply making it up for each flight.

Asked for the status on gate delivery on a recent BA LAS-LHR with onwards BA connection - they weren't sure either at LAS airport or onboard so cabin crew kindly let us keep the stroller onboard in the upperdeck storage. Made for a less painful transfer at LHR for sure! Probably helped that we were travelling in F - dread to think about carrying a 1-yr old around LHR for 3hrs+..

We are have a LONG connection in a couple months at LHR, and this is distressing. :( We have a terminal change and several hours' wait.

Our first leg is on united, and their web site says that parents of youngsters can bring an umbrella stroller that fits in the overhead, and it appears I will be doing my best to hold them to that because I really can't even IMAGINE not getting the stroller back at the gate

We are have a LONG connection in a couple months at LHR, and this is distressing. :( We have a terminal change and several hours' wait.

Our first leg is on united, and their web site says that parents of youngsters can bring an umbrella stroller that fits in the overhead, and it appears I will be doing my best to hold them to that because I really can't even IMAGINE not getting the stroller back at the gate

United gate delivers pretty reliable at the LHR gate/jetbridge/elevators as long as the stroller was gate-checked for gate-delivery and your flight isn't one of the last ones into LHR -- even then they deliver generally but the wait can be rather long and by the time you get to the immigration line (if relevant), the wait for the stroller can cost a lot more time than just the wait time for gate delivery.

Thanks, but now I am wondering why in the world I said our first leg was United?? LOL I must have not had enough coffee.

It's on AA. Do you know anything about AA?

Thanks, but now I am wondering why in the world I said our first leg was United?? LOL I must have not had enough coffee.

It's on AA. Do you know anything about AA?

Same goes for AA, but delivery at the "gate" tends to take somewhat longer than UA; and if ever taking a daytime AA TATL flight from the US to LHR -- not popular for families with young children -- then the waits for gate/jetbridge/elevator door delivery tends to be even longer than that. So largely the same.

The stroller gate-area delivery allowances by US airlines is the primary way (beside cabin baggage and car seat in-flight use allowance) in which US airlines are somewhat more child-friendly than the European carriers, when it comes to flying between the US and Europe.

Hello,

I very recently travelled with my baby and an umbrella stroller from SAN-ORD-LHR-MAA, the first leg being AA and thereafter BA. My gate checked stroller was made available to me at all the 3 airports jetside as soon as I deplaned! Crew were super helpful in all flights. Also, in the last leg, I was traveling on a 777, where they stowed my stroller onboard.

However, there were two other pax with children who were told to retrieve their stroller from the baggage belt at MAA, despite being tagged the same way as mine.

Thank you to everyone for their inputs. I strongly recommend BA for travelling with infants based on my experience.