We’ve bought a few of these bright red gate check bags that are designed to use at the airport gate to cover your stroller or carseat. The bags always come back from the gate with big black marks on them, which immediately makes me thankful that we’ve used them (and sorry for the other parents who don’t have one). We’ve never had a problem with an airline over their use. They come in a few sizes (which, IMHO, don’t matter because they’re all large enough to fit anything), and are $11-$18. JL Childress Gate Check Bag for Car Seats
2018 Update: We’re adding this product to our CorporetteMoms Hall of Fame because it’s still being sold in stores and we still love it!
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Sales of Note…
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off full-price tops and sweaters; up to 40% off all sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything; extra 15% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – 40% off your purchase
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 50% off everything; up to 50% off clearance; extra 15% off orders $100+; extra 20% off orders $125+
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
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- Zappos – 24,000+ sale items (for women)! Check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kid shoe brands on sale.
Kid/Family Sales
- J.Crew – 40% off your purchase
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Hanna Andersson – 100s of new markdowns; up to 30% off Easter
- Carter’s – Swim 50% off; up to 50% off sandals; up to 50% off spring break deals
- buybuyBaby – Major clearance markdowns
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
FVNC says
I agree these bags are great. Another plus is that they’re also big enough to tuck in a couple extra items — blankets, stuffed animals, etc. — that didn’t make it into suitcases.
R says
+1. I love these and use them on every flight for car seat and stroller. A tip, esp if you’ll be flying through rain or snow: buy some duct tape (in red, if you want). Flip the bag inside out, and line every seam with duct tape, then flip back to right side. It helps reinforce the seams plus seems to reduce any chance of leaks.
Carrie M says
This is a great tip. We’ve used this bag a bunch, but recently had to throw it out because it got two big holes. Thanks for the pro tip!
Maddie Ross says
We have a similar bag from Babys R Us that’s black, but ours has wheels. I think it was $30 or less, which is a small amount for a nice upgrade. And like FVNC mentioned above, it can be great to stuff bulky items in with the seat – we do blankets and coats. And when we travel out west to ski, our ski helmets actually fit in perfectly, too.
MSJ says
Does anyone have suggestions for comfortable earrings you can sleep in and small enough that babies won’t grab? I used to always wear necklaces but they are too tempting for the babies and haven’t done so since they’ve been born. I’d like to step up my accessorizing but the only way that’s going to happen is if I can wear it all the time (
sfg says
I used to sleep in my diamond studs, but at some point they started poking me and now anything in my ears bothers me.
hoola hoopa says
I sleep in studs – small gold balls – but that’s not exactly stepping up accessorizing. I used to wear small hoops (ie, “huggies”), which were comfortable for sleeping but perfect for little fingers to grab.
If you’re happy with studs but don’t find them comfortable for sleeping – have you tried those comfort backs? I haven’t, but I’ve heard good things.
Anon says
Related question: we are about to fly for the first time with our three month old. I know to breastfeed at takeoff and landing. Other tips?! Do we hold her the whole flight or do babies sit in a carseat on the plane? I take it from this we would gate check her car seat and stroller?
Also we have an uppababy cruz: worth it to get the travel bag?
Thanks all! Very much a first time mom here!
CHJ says
How long is the flight? At that age, my son would sleep and be entertained by looking around at everything on the plane. He was also happy to look at magazines with me and rip the pages.
If you bought her a seat, you can bring the carseat on board and she can ride in that. If you didn’t buy her a seat, I’ve heard that some airlines will let you bring the carseat if there is an empty seat next to you, but I have never had this lucky occurrence happen to me. You can gate check the stroller and the carseat, no problem.
RDC says
Use a carrier (bjorn or whatever) to navigate the airport. Gate check the carseat and stroller – the stroller is useful for schlepping things through the airport. I’d consider getting a cheap snap n go stroller frame (maybe used?) if there is one that works with your car seat to avoid your nice stroller taking a beating by the baggage staff.
Carrie M says
You’re still in a sweet spot for flying! I’d bring a few toys, but I agree with CHJ that everything else going on will mostly entertain a 3-month old. If you’re able to walk the aisle, our baby loved that at that age.
If your baby is comfortable in a carrier, you might consider doing that instead of the stroller (unless of course you will need/want your stroller at your destination). I liked strapping the baby to me and having my hands free for luggage. I used a K’tan in the airport and I also used it once on a flight so that the baby could sleep and I could have my hands free to read, eat, etc. Bring a blanket too – planes can be so cold, or you can put it over the baby while sleeping to block some of the light.
I’ve seen older kids in car seats on planes, but given your baby’s age, I would say just hold him/her, and gate check your stroller and car seat.
JEB says
Like people have said, it’s a good time for the first flight! Our baby’s first flight was at 4 months, and it went really well. We fed on take off and were able to seamlessly stick the pacifier in when she finished feeding, to keep helping with the ear pressure. If you’re going to bottle feed rather than nurse, bring more than you think you’ll need, in case the baby wants to eat both on take off and landing. Ours slept most of the flight. The only time she cried was on the tarmac when we had a slight delay leaving the gate. Bring a couple of toys/books. Mine loved looking at the safety brochure and intently watched all of the people boarding.
Bring a change of shirt for yourself, just in case. And a couple of extra changes of clothes for the baby. I’m usually cold on planes, but with the baby’s body heat from holding her the entire time, I think we both ended up being much warmer than I expected. I didn’t need to use the tip, but some great advice I got was to pack a Ziploc bag within your diaper bag that has one extra baby outfit, a few wipes, and a couple of diapers. That way if you have a blowout on the flight, you can quickly grab everything you need without digging through your bag under the seat.
Good luck!
EB0220 says
Here’s my method for baby travel, honed over a bunch of trips (alone) with my oldest. Wear baby in a soft structured carrier (like an Ergo). This makes it much easier to navigate shuttle buses, TSA, etc. You do NOT have to take baby out of the carrier at security, but they will swab your hands for residue and do an extra check of your luggage. After our first trip with the LO, I left the stroller and carseat at home and rented/borrowed a carseat at the destination. I did one of two things for luggage: checked bag and backpack for carry on OR rollerboard + LO & Sons OG (both carryon). The carryon would contain extra diapers, wipes, changes of clothes, a blanket and small toy. When I get to my seat on the plane, I take the essentials out of the bag and put them under my seat or in the seat pocket: diaper clutch (w/ wipes, diapers, change of clothes and a few plastic grocery bags or ziploc bags), pacifier, snacks, my phone, etc. The OG/backpack goes in the overhead bin. I would ask the flight attendants for a pillow and/or blanket to put under your arm because holding a baby with your elbow on that hard armrest can hurt after a while! I typically wear the baby while boarding the plane. If it’s a short flight, I usually just leave the carrier strapped around my waist (although baby must be removed from the carrier while in flight, or at least for takeoff/landing – not 100% sure). I remove the carrier for a long flight and put it under the seat. After landing, while people are shuffling out ahead of me, I get baby loaded back up into the carrier and reassemble my diaper clutch, etc. back into the smaller carry-on. This way, I’m mostly ready to go when it’s my turn to leave! That sounds overly detailed, but I took so many trips with my baby before she was 2 that I developed a method that worked for me!
shortperson says
i generally follow this procedure too. i’ll add that i always wear chewbeads for the flight and put on my my infinity scarf/breastfeeding shawl before boarding and just keep it on the whole time. and make sure you have baby layers or changes of clothing in case plane is hot or freezing.
Nikki says
I have to be the totally obnoxious mom who reminds you that it’s never considered safe to use a car seat with an unknown history–airlines throw car seats around just like they throw suitcases, and the impact could be the same as if the seat was in a car accident, meaning it should no longer be used. Omg, I can’t believe I’m that mom right now. I’m sorry!
Maddie Ross says
I’m geniuinely curious – what do you do? Do you rent a car seat from a rental car company with a potentially even more sordid history? Or buy a new car seat every time you travel (for each lefg of the trip)? Or do you just never travel?
TBK says
Yeah, I’m curious too. What on earth could you do besides check them? Also, while I’m sure getting tossed around isn’t encouraged, I doubt even a very strong porter could throw it 20+mph like it would be in a crash. Finally, if you follow this line of thinking, no car seat is safe — how do you know what happened to it between the factory and getting to you? Especially assuming the factory is overseas? Maybe the recommendation is to use it on the flight (and buy the kid a ticket)? But then you have a problem like ours — our car seats are FAA approved BUT don’t fit in coach seats. So, yeah, the kids could travel first class in them but otherwise no dice (we have the Britax Boulevard if you’re wondering — the things are beasts).
Lyndsey says
You buy a seat on the plane and the child sits in their car seat on the plane. This is the safest way to travel.
Maddie Ross says
Yeah, my daughter is two and I buy a seat for her now (as a requirement), but I do not carry on our carseat. She just sits with a lapbelt. I cannot imagine the hassle (for me, for other people) to carry on my convertible Britax and the fight to get her in it. Maybe I’m just a really lax parent.
Carrie M says
We bring our car seat for precisely this reason – we have no way of knowing if the car seat we’d rent from a rental car company was in an accident. My thought is that even if the airline throws the seat around, that level of mistreatment /impact is likely still less than if the seat was in a car accident. But I would love to hear other options/ ideas if people have them.
Also, the one time we did rent a seat from a car rental company, they assured us in advance that they would have a backward facing seat. They didn’t. So my 22-lb baby rode forward facing all weekend. It was not fun (for us….she seemed to love it of course!).
POSITA says
We bought an inexpensive car seat from Walmart for travel (Cosco something or other), so if it gets thrown around we’re less concerned. It is good enough for the rare occasion we are traveling and keeps the integrity of our every day car seat intact. There is no perfect solution, but we feel better knowing that her “good” car seat isn’t abused by baggage handlers. As a bonus, we’re happier carrying the Cosco seat because it’s so lightweight compared to her everyday seat.
Carrie M says
Thanks! I like this idea!
RDC says
Ditto – good tip. Thanks!