harteh

Hi! the last few times we've flown into London and Dublin and back into the US we have to pick up our gate checked stroller at baggage claim instead of the gate. Now that we have two kids, I'm trying to avoid the post plane - immigration line melt down from my toddler by strapping him in anywhere. is it just luck that we don't get our stroller or normal?

dbuckho

Not sure what the logic is on when it shows up at the arrival gate vs being sent to baggage claim, but your post is bringing back memories of several very long arrival walks at LHR where our gate checked stroller had to be retrieved at baggie claim.

A recent discussion:
Stroller collected at gate at LHR?

SinkOrSwim

You can really emphasise to the staff as you board that you really want it back at the gate - sometimes they seem to be able to facilitate this (or maybe they just took pity on us because we had baby twins!). Alternatively, it might be best to get strollers that can be taken on board, such as Babyzen Yoyos. You can now get connector clips to join two of these together.

Loved our Babyzen, it was a fantastic buggy. We originally bought it just for travel, but it soon became our daily wheels!

jsnydcsa

In my families' now several-years-past experience with gate-checked strollers to/from DUB, LHR and elsewhere (JNB, CPT) and the USA on US and non-US carriers, I find it's basically a series of heads-tails coin tosses at gate door/boarding, bottom of jetway staff, staff on plane, departure airport luggage loaders, arrival airport staff (service agent), arrival airport ground staff, arrival airport luggage unloaders, day of week, time of day, weather, and sun-moon alignment. At each coin toss, you have the chance to have it appear at the jetway as you deplane, see it come out of the oversized luggage door, see it come onto the carousel first, see it come out on the carousel last. Take your pick. Also found it didn't make a difference if the stroller was packed in a special bag, packed in a janky clear plastic bag (from home or provided by airline) or just left "unwrapped."

Best results usually came from (1) speaking (begging, imploring) directly to the ground staff "collecting" things at the end of the jetway/plane door prior to departure and (2) asking (begging, imploring) ground staff "greeting" the flight on arrival (if they're still there when you're getting off the plane). But, as described above. YMMV.