Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Traveling Alone with my 1 Year Old

courtneypj
Explorer C

I am traveling alone with my one year old. I have an Ergobaby but it is sorta difficult putting on by myself. Can I take my stroller to the terminal? If I bring my stroller, about how much time would it take to go through security? What is the process on getting it back?

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Traveling Alone with my 1 Year Old

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Based on this info from TSA's site, it does not appear you can pass through screening with the baby in your Ergo Baby

 

  • Remove infants and children from their carriers and carry them in arms through the walk-through metal detector.

With that in mind, you'll probably want to use your stroller. You'll need to remove your baby from the stroller, collapse the stroller, send it through the x-ray, walk through x-ray with your baby, and then gather your things, unfold stroller, and place baby back in the stroller. This blog post summarizes it a bit better than I have. It does appear to have old information regarding wearing your baby through screening. I would ignore that and focus on the stroller comments. 

 

http://mommypoints.boardingarea.com/2013/12/18/how-to-not-drop-your-baby-when-going-through-airport-...

 

When you reach the gate let the Southwest rep at the counter (not the gate door) know you need to gate check your stroller. You'll get a tag to place on it, then as you board you'll collapse the stroller and leave it near the plane door. Upon arriving at your destination, wait in the same area and your stroller will be brought to you. 

 

As you mentioned, all these steps do add to the time required to get to the gate and on the flight. While the exact time depends on many more factors, you should allow yourself at least an extra 30-60 minutes more than usual so as not to feel rushed. 

 

Good luck, I know from personal experience how challenging traveling with young ones can be. 

Re: Traveling Alone with my 1 Year Old

CareforNOLA
Frequent Flyer A

Courtneypj - I've been there before.  Best purchase I made was the car-seat-stroller combo.  At the time Sit-n-Stroll was the only option.  Now that one is still available, but it looks they have added some such as the Doona.  It was expensive, but we knew we would be traveling a lot, so we just made the investment.  It lasted from infancy to 5 years old and worth every penny.

Re: Traveling Alone with my 1 Year Old

manderrae86
Explorer C

Does Southwest require gate-checked strollers to be in a carrying bag? How about ticket counter checked carseats - do those have to be bagged??  I'm traveling with two toddlers and the costs are getting out of hand!

Re: Traveling Alone with my 1 Year Old

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

Southwest sells bags for $17 each.

 

These aren't required, it's up to you if it is helpful to make sure things don't get scuffed, or if you find cheaper bags somewhere else that's okay too.

 

If you might be flying 5-10 times or more, the cost of the bag may be reasonable to reduce wear from handling.

 

From my perspective, for any one trip you aren't expecting much to happen to your item. But now having used our blue bags 30+ times, the bags sure are beat up...glad that cumulative punishment (even if a very little each time) wasn't onto our stroller.

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.