Full disclosure: Joe and I don’t have kids or even any nieces or nephews (an only child who married an only child, who woulda thunk???). So I admittedly can’t look at this from a, “I have experience with babies and strollers and this is why I think this is a totally awesome/horrific idea.” But from a practical point of view, read on…
The manufacturer, Mountain Buggy, makes various items, mainly stroller-type stuff, to carry and support babies and toddlers. They have two dozen offices internationally but are based out of New Zealand. The carry-on-luggage-turned-stroller, called a Bagrider, is described as, “The ultimate kids travel solution. Bagrider is designed to simplify family travel for parents and avoid the struggle of taking both a buggy [Note from Sharon: that’s NZ/Kiwi for stroller] and carry on luggage through transit. Bagrider offers effortless travel time for families by transforming from a two wheeled carry on suitcase into a traveling seat for toddlers up to 15kg/ 33lbs, while retaining its luggage storage capacity.”
OK, it makes sense and sounds good in theory.
Here’s the video that explains how it works…
Now, I get it – it saves you from having to push a stroller and drag a carry-on bag at the same time. But 2 questions immediately come to mind:
- Can you imagine how HEAVY that carry-on is going to be to push or pull if it’s got a 33lb. kid on it with just those 4 teeny tiny little wheels?
- OK, so you’ve saved yourself some effort between the airport and hotel. What do you do for the rest of your trip? Keep using the carry-on luggage as a stroller? Yeah, that won’t look strange at all (#rolleyes). Have the added expense of renting a stroller for the rest of your vacation?
Now, on their website, a bunch of their 50ish reviews are 5 stars. But then you get down to the bottom…
…the quality of the handle is flimsy like what you get with a cheap piece of hand luggage. with the weight of a child up to 15 Kg leaning against that handle I doubt it will last. The locking mechanism at the back of the bag was stiff and the handle kept dropping down into the case each time I tried to push it forward. The seat cushion harness for the child legs – I could not figure out how to secure it to the seat cushion, there was no instructions and most importantly of all the depth of the case is to wide for all budget airlines (at over 25cm) I checked even for some non budget airlines, So I would have only been able to use it on very limited flights.
… It looked ideal when we unpacked it but my husband had misgivings about the size and whether it would qualify as cabin baggage on our Ryan air flight Sure enough it was 5mm too deep and we had to leave it at home unused.
Anybody else worry about little pinched fingers, or hand reaching for other passengers while being pulled, backwards, down the aisle of the plane?
I dunno…if you’re making something that you know is going to go on airlines, maybe you want to make it the size so it’ll fit on plane’s overhead without a problem??? And ESPECIALLY make it sturdy enough so you don’t have to worry about the child’s safety???
Bagrider is available on Amazon.com, as well as directly from the manufacturer – it costs $139.99 either way (that alone should send warning signals…good carry-ons cost more than that even without the “carry-the-baby” add-on).
Again, I have no kids so I agree that maybe I shouldn’t judge. But if anyone thinks I should (or at least could), then yeah, this sounds to me like a no-brainer dud.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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