forced to check (as opposed to gate-check) my stroller at airport

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, all of these posters going against you are wrong. I just flew (Thursday) on American airlines (Dulles) and flew with the exact same stroller and was able to gate check. Both ways. I think the agent was poorly trained. They didn't even look twice at my stroller at check-in. I fly with this same stroller on various airlines 2-3 times a month and have never had an issue. I have even gate checked it on Frontier Airlines which is notoriously strict. You were not breaking the rules.

No, the other posters are all right. AA clearly states their rules and just because you had an agent that didn't do their job doesn't mean OP or anyone else is entitle to gate check a stroller that is clearly in violation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Next time, ask them to weigh it on another scale or do it yourself (find an unused desk position.. the numbers show up right there). AIrport scales are notoriously poorly calibrated. One time I was flying with a big suitcase (was moving abroad) and I was 5 pounds overweight... until I put it on the adjacent scale and it was fine. The agent said scales tend to be off, and went with the number in my favor.

My guess is that the OP was less than pleasant to the ticket agent, and therefore the agent wasn't inclined to cut OP any slack.

You shouldn't guess. You don't know anything about me. Also my stroller IS 20 pounds. Not over. The manufacturer specs are 20 pounds. It was a little bit over and this lady was not nice. I was checking in at a kiosk with baby in stroller and she came over to me. But I'm not going to convince you because you "guess" that I'm unpleasant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Next time, ask them to weigh it on another scale or do it yourself (find an unused desk position.. the numbers show up right there). AIrport scales are notoriously poorly calibrated. One time I was flying with a big suitcase (was moving abroad) and I was 5 pounds overweight... until I put it on the adjacent scale and it was fine. The agent said scales tend to be off, and went with the number in my favor.

My guess is that the OP was less than pleasant to the ticket agent, and therefore the agent wasn't inclined to cut OP any slack.

You shouldn't guess. You don't know anything about me. Also my stroller IS 20 pounds. Not over. The manufacturer specs are 20 pounds. It was a little bit over and this lady was not nice. I was checking in at a kiosk with baby in stroller and she came over to me. But I'm not going to convince you because you "guess" that I'm unpleasant.

Don't blame the gate agent, blame the manufacturer -- frequently they do dumb things like list weights WITHOUT FABRIC. Which is crazy, but -- be very careful trusting the manufacturer's web site. For example, the Indie is listed elsewhere as 21 lbs 15 oz, or almost 22 lbs.

The moral is: if you're flying AA, always weigh before you go! I don't think the agents actually have a lot of leeway with this. They have to enforce it. They weren't just being mean to you.

[Anonymous]

I Gate check uppa baby vista all the time but I haven't flown AA. I will avoid them
In the future so OP, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I Gate check uppa baby vista all the time but I haven't flown AA. I will avoid them
In the future so OP, thanks.

same here. They sound unreasonable

[Anonymous]

You wear your baby, hold toddlers hand while elem school kid holds his other hand. Your two kids wear their backpacks while you carry the diaper bag. It sucks but traveling with three young kids by yourself usually does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hell are you bringing such an enormous stroller on an airplane? No one cares about the weight - they care about the spatial displacement. It's much too large for the overhead bin.

You need to bring a simple, collapsible stroller.

What on earth are you talking about?! Im not trying to bring it ON the airplane and put it in the overhead bin. Just gate check it like I've done a million times before. It folds up very compact and I also leave it at the end of the jetway for gate check like everyone else with their strollers

Hopefully you had the stroller collapsed when it was being weighed in...

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the aircraft. I had to check in my maclaren stroller even though at Hesthrow I had 4 hour wait for next flight
awful, awful

[Anonymous]

Well, I've never heard of this stroller but it looks pretty land-yacht sized online. It is definitely not an umbrella stroller, as the rules require.

You should be grateful they let you slide all those other times. Now you know to bring your umbrella stroller with you next time to avoid the hassle of being stroller-less in the airport.