How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I'm trying to decide if I should invest in one of those $100+ stroller bags or if I could get away with buying one of those thin stroller bags.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I gate checked my snap and go frame without any kind of bag twice and it came back completely fine.
I don't know though...maybe if it was a more expensive stroller, I would have done something different to protect it.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

Not sure...I always put mine in the "Gate Check Stroller Bag." It was cheap- maybe $15-20.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I didn't put mine in any bag and it was fine....there were about 4 other Maclarens as well, and they were all fine (none in bags) I def wouldn't get a very expensive stroller bag, unless it was a very expensive stroller....like a Bugaboo or Orbit

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We took our Bugaboo.... Brought the seat in the plane with us and gave them teh frame and it was fine...

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We've flown 4 times and never bagged the stroller. The only problem we had was this last time the tray came off but the baggage guys found it and there was no damage or anything...it just fell off the stroller.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

i checked my snap and go stroller frame into gate check and it came back with holes in the bottom carrying compartment . it was brand new and it was my first time checking it in too

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We brought our city mini with us and it was fine. I didn't use a bag.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I gave my peg perego to the airline in the gate check bag. They broke a 3 inch thick handle by slamming it in the door of the air plane. They DO NOT replace it. My peg was 90 days old when we brought it on the airplane. It cost me $70 to have it repaired.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I just picked up a 15 bag from BRU..figured its better than nothing, but we'll see how they treat it..will be back on sun..will let you know...

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We gate checked out quattro pro and it got roughed up big time! But we managed to get a new stroller out of the airline as a result so it's all good however now that I have a newborn again I'm a little peeved that my carseat no longer coordinates with my stroller. oh well.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We checked our Maclaren at the gate and it came back to us in perfect condition.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We didn't gate check a stroller, but we did gate check our car seat and it came back really scratched up along the arms where you would hold the car seat. I was ****** cause it was brand new at the time. Oh well. Lesson learned.
I would definitely invest in some kind of stroller bag.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I don't think you need an expensive bag but I would put it in a stroller bag to protect it. They have ones for less than $50 - I think as little as $20. We used an inexpensive one when we traveled with DD to WDW we were the only ones who used it. Our bag was a little dirty but the stroller was in good condition when we got it back both on the flight down and the return flight. On the other hand others just gave in their strollers and 1 had something broken on the flight down, and both flights I heard parents complaining that they got them back with dirty all over them. I DO think you are better to gate check them than to check them with your luggage as they really throw those bags around.

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

I got teh red gate check bag from BBB. It was like $15. Although we flew SW and none of the strollers seemed that bad when I saw them come out at gate check.

Are you local? You are more than welcome to borrow our bag its practically new

Re: How bad do they treat your stroller if you gate check at the airport?

We checked ours at the gate and it was fine. The thing that was a problem was our carseat, which was infant the last time we flew and we brought it through security ourselves. It got stuck in the machine and we wound up with some burn marks on the fabric! I complained, kvetched, and called the airline but got nowhere, and finally dropped it--sometimes you can't fight these battles forever.

So if you have an infant seat, I would cover that going through security--the belt is also filthy. A giant plastic ziplock should be acceptable to security, I would think, but check first.