We are getting ready to go on an transatlantic flight with a 4 month old baby. We need to take a car seat and a stroller. Just wondering if you can gate check the stroller in a padded bag? If so, how do you get the large padded bag through security since it wont fit through the xray machine? Or is it better to just gate check the stroller without a bag and hope it doesn't get damaged?

Same thing with a car seat, we have a padded bag, but how does it get through security when that too will not fit through the machine??

Any seasoned parent travelers out there with any advice?

Do you need the stroller to get from the security point to the gate?

If not, then just check both the car seat and stroller/bag at checkin.

I'm not 100% sure about infant seats on planes, but I recall reading that you can't just use a normal car seat on an airline. It has to be FAA approved.

Most airlines have basinettes for infants that go in the bulkhead row - you need to reserve this.

My guess is you need to check the car seat at checkin.

Hey GP -
Now this I have tons of experience with - in addition to our transatlantic flights, I take DD to grandma's about every two months on average - she's flown about 12 times in 17 months.

Car Seat - the infant seat with the removable base and carry handle I assume? - will fit through the xray without it's base and flipped upside down. I used the Graco stroller frame that the car seat snapped on to. We carried the bag rolled up until we got to the gate, then packed the car seat and gate-checked it with no problem. Now that she's in her bigger, convertible seat, I pack it in it's padded bag and check it with the luggage.
Stroller - again, we used the Graco car seat frame for travelling, and it collapsed just fine. The only time I ran in to a problem was at a small regional airport with a smaller xray machine. Security hand-inspected it. We had a gate check bag for that as well. Now she's in a Joovy Kooper stroller, (mentioning brands so you can Google pics and get an idea of what we travel with, size-wise) that comes with a travel bag, and we gate check that with no trouble. Well, on occasion, our black gate-check bags have been mistaken for regular luggage and not returned to us at the gate, but only on Continental Airlines, for some reason! I guess the luggage handlers are just used to seeing strollers and car seats unprotected. I paid too much for her gear to let it get banged around like that, though!

She's 17 months and still flies as a lap infant - I took her infant seat onboard the first leg of her very first flight and gate-checked it at the next airport - it was a hassle.

In regards to your other thread that seems to have gone down the drain - I also nursed her on flights and actually, if you can get comfortable, it was one of easiest times to catch a nap!

Oh, and just for fun, I saw someone at the airport last month with a BOB double jogging stroller. Those things are huge, and they were gate-checking it!!