StevenH123

If you are gate checking a stroller or a car seat, which brand/type of gate check bag do you like/hate?

What I've found so far...

JL Childress makes bright red ones with the words 'gate check' in large letters on the side for under $15. But online reviews indicate that they are poor quality.

Rover Gear makes the McLean for about $30 in black with green. I don't know much about it.

Clear plastic bags seem like they would tear. Am I wrong?

Please add your 2 cents!

sbagdon

Interesting. I've never heard of a gate-check bag!

yukira

I used to have a bag (whose name escapes me) designed for carseat travel. I think I did a search on Amazon and found it. The great thing was it could be used for gate checking or baggage checking as it had zippers, small wheels and straps to be used as a backpack so carrying it through the airport was a breeze. It was also a fairly sturdy material. The downside for me was that traveling alone with an infant/toddler meant I usually starting stuffing all my stuff in the very roomy bag along with the carseat so I could manage everything and the darn thing got so heavy I could barely walk and I had to keep my center of gravity way forward or I would topple over.

I found a link that is similar to what we had.

http://www.amazon.com/SafeFit-Car-Se.../dp/B001DF7LGW

codex57

I see no reason to pay for one. Just use the free clear ones at baggage check in. Yes, it may tear, but commercial ones would only resist tearing a little bit better. If it's gonna tear, it's getting some ROUGH treatment that tearing is the lest of your worries. The free ones are decently thick.

The only exception would be if you had a Bugaboo stroller. Then, I'd get the Bugaboo stroller bag simply for the warranty.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

I purchased a car seat 'gate check bag' at Target for the three times that we used it when my son was a lap child. One of these times, my wife and son was joining me at a trade show later in the week so I check it in when I flew out on Sunday (we have 2 car seats). It seems to be durable from these two flights that it was checked in as regular luggage. It is blue, has a zipper and straps.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

Since I flew mostly on US Airways, I have never seen them putting car seats in plastic bags. The only times that I have seen airlines put car seats and/or strollers in plastic bags were on international flights on international based airlines like LH, OZ and CX.

codex57

I ask for the bags and bag my items myself.

Haven't had them tear, except when they intentionally poked a hole in a spot so the tag could stick out. I guess they need to scan it or otherwise have it extra accessable? I mean, it's clear so it's not like they couldn't see the tag inside the bag.

themicah

Many airlines no longer have plastic bags available, and those that do sometimes charge for them, so I wouldn't rely on them.

We have a generic car-seat bag (I think mrsmicah picked it up at Buy Buy Baby or Babies R Us for $30-40 after an airline ripped the plastic we'd been using and our car seat got wet in the rain) that is made of a pretty heavy nylon and would be very difficult to tear. It also has shoulder straps so I can wear it like a backpack, which makes transporting it much easier.

I have a Bugaboo and while I haven't traveled with it in a while (we traveled with the Bug when we needed the bassinet and when we were going to outdoorsy places where we needed the big wheels), I can't imagine getting the Bugaboo bag. It's ridiculously expensive and cumbersome. The couple times we brought our Bug on plane trips we simply gate-checked the frame and seat and it was fine.

sucheng

We just use a heavy-duty nylon duffle - it's huge and doubles for checking-in the car seat at the counter if we know for sure there's no seats available. Plus, it's roomy enough that we could stuff lots of extra stuff in around the car seat (usually on the return trip when we have dirty laundry and other extra stuff we have somehow accumulated.) The two handles can work as backpack straps if it's not too overloaded. But usually, for getting it to the gate, I just stuff it in the bottom of the stroller.