Originally Posted by
pinniped
OK, dumb question. My kids are 10 and 13, and from what I can tell stroller technology has way high-tech in the past 7-8 years. People spend more now on 1 stroller than we did on all strollers and carseats combined.
My question is: what kind of stroller was this? Going back 8 years, there were two kinds: (1) a little umbrella-looking thing that folded down to the point where it fit in one hand. We always carried this kind onboard aircraft and stowed it in the overhead bin. (2) a larger contraption that folded flat, but was still a large bulky square thing that *always* was gate-checked.
There was no ambiguity about either kind: one was little and carried on easily. You could even slide it into the overhead bin on an RJ. The other would not fit in any overhead bin of any aircraft. Even folded, it was heavy and bulky and required two hands to lift.
There was no need for histrionics about either type: when we had the big stroller, it was always brought back up to the jetbridge as we deplaned. No biggie.
So I'm confused about the underlying issue, and I realize it may be my own ignorance about modern stroller technology. (Is there some middle-sized contraption now that can only fit in *some* overhead bins?)
There are some strollers that are allowed on board for some flights and fit in the relatively empty storage cabinets and/or overhead bins of some planes but don't fit on other planes (sometimes even planes of the same sort). There are "umbrella" strollers that run a large range of sizes.
Some airlines at least sometimes refuse to allow for strollers to be gate-delivered on arrival even as other airlines (sometimes even at the same airport or even for the same airport pairs) will do the arrival gate delivery of the stroller)
. This can make transits awful at some airports; and this is more of a problem when flying European carriers than when flying US carriers. Gate delivery of strollers is one of the areas in which US carriers are much better than say European carriers. For example, BA often refuses to gate-check for gate-delivery strollers at ORD even as AA and UA at ORD accept the very same strollers to gate-check-for-gate-delivery. Not a month goes by where I don't see this happen at ORD.
.... and being at LHR or even at DFW without a gate-delivered stroller on the transit (or for arrival) can be a major pain.