Travelling with the Mothercare XSS Pockit Stroller

We've travelled abroad with out little one four times now. And, previously, we have always taken our Bugaboo having bought a special flight bag for it. Since our boy is nearly two, when travelling to Spain this year, we thought we could probably cope with a more light-weight stroller for holiday.

Using the XSS on the beach

As I've written in a previous post, it is perfectly possible to fly with a Bugaboo. However, as you have to take the wheels off and take the seat apart in order for it to be flat and you have to carry the bag around the airport (and it's fairly cumbersome), we decided that something that folded easily flat would be more practical. 

After some deliberation, we decided upon the Mothercare XSS Pockit Stroller. The blurb about it said that it folded down "incredibly" small and that it fitted into the overhead locker of the plane. 

The XSS stroller in the
overhead locker

I could only find a couple of other buggies that folded small enough to be carried onto the plane including the Quinny Zapp and the Mountain Buggy Nano. However, at £129, the XSS Pockit Stroller was a much more affordable option.

It does fold down really small and fits into an easily portable bag. On our outward flight with Monarch from Gatwick, we effortlessly stowed the stroller on the overhead locker. And, it folds down and up incredibly simply, in one complete piece, in virtually a single movement. 

Wheeling my son
off the runway

The advantage of carrying the stroller onto the plane is that, when you disembark, you can literally pop it up and your toddler can sit straight in it on the runway. This means you don't have to worry about him wandering off or having to carry him through check in and onto baggage collection before you can collect the buggy from oversized baggage. This would be especially useful if you were only taking carry on and would enable you to bypass baggage collection altogether.

I was a bit worried that it might not be robust enough for rough terrain or the beach. But actually, it fared no worse than the Bugaboo on the sand. And, since it weighed less than 4kg, even when it faltered on sand, I could easily pick it up in one hand and carry my son in the other.

My son napping
in the stroller

The other thing I was worried about was whether the XSS Pockit Stroller would be comfortable enough for my son to sleep in. Normally he sleeps in his cot, but on holiday you have to plan to all eventualities such as delayed flights (or missing them!). And, on the last day, we had to exit our villa at 9am and weren't flying until 6pm meaning he had to have his daytime nap in the stroller. And, after some persuasion, he did have have an hour long sleep in there quite comfortably. 

There were a few downsides to the XSS Pockit Stroller. Firstly, it came with a very small sun shade which didn't provide a huge amount of coverage. And, you'll see from the photo, I had to rely on a muslin when he slept. However, because both sides of the stroller were open, even with the shade up, my son had a really great view enabling him to satisfy his nosy side.

Another downside was that the straps were really difficult to adjust. Again, you'll see from the photo that we didn't exactly succeed with the adjustment! However, he didn't seem to especially mind.

The final drawback was that the footrest was not adjustable. My son's feet were a good few inches off the footrest. Since my son is already 12kg and the stroller only goes up to 15kg, I'm not sure he is ever going to be tall enough to reach it! Again though, he didn't seem to mind his feet dangling.

Overall, we loved our XSS Pockit Stroller. It was much easier to travel with then the Bugaboo. It collapses incredibly easily, is super lightweight and perfect for taking on overseas holidays. 

One word of warning. When you check in, make sure you tell the staff that you intend to take the buggy onto the plane. On our return flight from Spain, we didn't tell Monarch and the stewardess hunted us out on the plane to find out why we hadn't handed a buggy over at the gate. They were fine with it being in the locker, but I think there is some procedure or paperwork that needs to be completed.

Flying with a Bugaboo

Whilst doing some essential OK magazine reading prior to my holiday to Australia, I read that one celebrity who had a baby at the same time as me wasn't taking her Bugaboo on holiday because it is not possible to fly with it.
 
This isn't the case and we decided to take our Bugaboo to Australia with us. And, although it was a bit of a hassle, it was worth it for us as, we were away for three weeks, and wanted something in which our son was comfortable and which was reliable.

If you do decide to take your Bugaboo or any other buggy on a plane with you, here is what I think you need to know:

• Try to keep your buggy with you as long as you can

If you have a pretty long international flight ahead of you like we had, the last thing you want is to start the journey by lugging your child around an airport for three hours. So try and take the buggy to the gate rather than checking it in with the rest of your luggage. At check-in, the steward will put a baggage label on your buggy and then when you get to the gate, the airport staff will then just take it from you and put it into the hold.

Going through Heathrow with our buggy

• Buy some sort of bag to put your buggy in

Whatever type of buggy you are taking with you, I suggest you buy some sort of travel bag to put it in. This way, all the items related to your buggy can go in one bag and you don't run the risk of parts being damaged or lost in transit. When we landed back at Heathrow, there was one couple desperately looking for one of the attachments to their buggy and when you have been flying for 24 hours, this is the last thing you need.

At the Etihad gate at Heathrow, they did have large, polythene bags for passengers to put their buggies in. However, I wouldn't assume this to be the case with all airports/airlines because they didn't have these at Perth or Sydney.

If you are flying with a Bugaboo, it is especially important because it doesn't lie flat and it breaks into two pieces. We bought a Bugaboo Transport Bag second hand from Ebay, but they cost around £100 new from Bugaboo directly or other retailers.

• If you do buy a transport bag, you may not be able to take it to the gate

The official Bugaboo Transport bag is actually quite large and doesn't easily fold or roll away. Some versions of the bag have wheels but ours just had an over the folder strap. We used our Transport Bag at a couple of airports and there seemed to be different rules regarding whether you could take it through security. At Perth and Sydney airports we carried it through without a problem, which meant that, when we got to the gate, we just collapsed down the buggy and the stewards put it into the hold.

However, at Heathrow, we were not permitted to take it through security as they deemed it to be too large to go through the scanners (they must have smaller scanners in London than in Australia). This meant that we had to give the bag to the stewards at the check-in desk. They then labelled it up as air plane baggage and they then took it to the gate for us. Although this did work, we had to spend quite a long time waiting for it so we had to rush a bit to break it down and then get on the plane. And I had a bit of a panic in the meantime!

• Practice breaking the Bugaboo down

Bugaboo Transport Bag

OK, so it isn't as easy as just folding the Bugaboo down and putting it into the transport bag. You have to completely dismantle it! And, when I say dismantle, you literally have to take the wheels off! So if you do get one of these, I would suggest you practice using it a few times before you fly. My husband got really good at breaking it down and putting it in the bag, but you want to be reasonably confident in doing it if you are in a rush and everyone watches you! 

If you've lost the instructions for your bugaboo, you can download them from the website. 

• If you have to change planes, you won't get your buggy back while in transit 

This might seem obvious, but if you are flying with one airline but have to change planes en route, you won't get your buggy back at the transit airport. Once, they have put it in the hold, you won't see it again until your final destination. So if you have a bit of a wait or a delay, you might need to think about how you are going to cart around a very tired baby or child. We used our sling.

Interestingly, you can hire strollers at Abu Dhabi airport but our 12 week old baby was too small for them. 

• Be prepared to take your child out of the buggy

On holiday with our Bugaboo

Again, this might seem fairly obvious, but if you are going through security with your child, you might have to take them out of the buggy, even if they are asleep. At Heathrow, they just felt around our baby and he didn't even wake up! But at both Perth and Sydney airports, they insisted we take him out while going through the scanners.

Hope this was useful, let me know if you think I've missed anything and I will update. 

Please note, we flew in November 2014 and it is possible that airlines will change their rules. It might be best to check with your airline before you fly. Happy travelling!