Checking a playard on plane? About This Page:

[SevenWonkas]

We are flying to Orlando in June with our son who will be 9.5 months. Anyone have any tips on airplane travel specific to checking the playard/pack & play? We will be staying off-site (Marriott's Grande Vista) and I know that typically requests for high chairs, cribs, etc from hotels are not guaranteed. We'd prefer to bring our own playard as opposed to renting or using the hotel's. However, I'm concerned about the playard getting damaged in checked baggage.

[Carousel96]

you mean a pack and play? We flew with ours a few times. It just counted as a checked bag (but this was when bags were free and we paid for DD's seat so she got her own bag allowance).
My advice -- if you're checking the thing, use the space in the bag. Once you fold the play yard to put it in the bag, there are little pockets of space between the metal legs. We used that space for the bed sheets, ponchos, a light jacket....

[Dave Marx]

Those things are designed to travel reasonably well. I wouldn't worry about the baggage handlers. However, the airlines have gotten strict about luggage dimensions. If it exceeds the maximum length, you could be hit with a stiff oversize luggage fee on top of the regular luggage fee - going two ways, that can be substantial. Check with your airline. With lots of Pack 'n Play models at under $75, it could be cheaper to buy one online and have it delivered to the hotel. So... call the hotel, and see what they have to say. While it's true that cribs and pack 'n plays are not guaranteed, they'll at least give you a feeling for how common it is for them to run out.

[SevenWonkas]

Thanks for the responses Dave and Carolyn! Yup, I was referring to a pack & play. I was typing on my phone at the time so it was quicker and easier to type playard.

I'm happy to hear that they travel well! We need to call Marriott and add the high chair request to our reservation, so we'll ask how often they run out of the playards. I did price some of the rental options, and it seemed cheaper than checking the pack & play. But we also thought we could pack more of our necessities with the pack & play if we did check it. (either in the pockets like you said Carolyn, or even put the pack & play in a large duffel and pack items around it). DS will have his own seat on the flight so luckily that could be his checked bag and we wouldn't have to pay the higher fee for a 2nd checked bag.

Dave, in your experience, do hotels truly sometimes run out? I worked at a hotel in college and we always told guests that requests were not guaranteed, but I honestly don't think we ever ran out of rollaways or cribs.

[Dave Marx]

We never had a problem getting something, although in one or two cases the only choice was a crib, and on one non-Disney cruise the pack 'n play was pretty old and worn. I think that last is the biggest risk - that the "good ones" may be gone and they end up scraping the bottom of the barrel. Of course, that depends on the hotel. I don't think a Marriott is going to cheap-out in that way.

[2dogmom]

If you are going to end up having to pay to a baggage fee to bring it, you might want to check into renting one from an outside company down there. They also have other baby stuff for rent if you need.