Travelling with a Baby: An Airport Transfer Checklist
Two things decide how the drive from the airport to the hotel goes with an infant: whether the carrier was booked in advance, and whether what you need on the way is still reachable or packed at the bottom of a case. Both can be dealt with before you fly.
- Before booking
- declare the carrier
- Pushchair
- declare as luggage
- Night surcharge
- none
Before you book
- Enter the infant carrier. As a child seat in step two, with the age in the notes field. An infant carrier is not a small child seat — without an age the wrong item comes. Details in booking a child seat.
- Count the baby as a person. Even if they flew on a lap: in a vehicle they need a seat.
- Declare the pushchair. It is extra luggage at €10, and the reason a suitable vehicle arrives rather than one whose boot is already full.
- Travel cot and buggy too. Anything not shaped like a suitcase needs declaring — see how much luggage is included.
What does not belong in the suitcase
The suitcase disappears into the luggage compartment after reclaim and is out of reach until the hotel. So anything you might need between landing and your room belongs in your hand luggage:
- Changing kit for at least two changes — the stretch between landing and hotel room is longer than the schedule suggests.
- A bottle or formula for the drive. After a night landing nothing is open on the way.
- A spare top for yourself, not only for the baby.
- Something warmer. The air conditioning in the vehicle and the night air outside are both cooler than the travel day was.
The pushchair
Pushchairs are usually returned at the aircraft or at the outsize baggage desk rather than on the normal belt, so expect to collect it somewhere else. Mention it to your driver when you meet if you still have to fetch it — he will wait, rather than bringing the vehicle round and then waiting again.
In the vehicle it travels folded. If yours is a larger model that does not fold flat, say so: for a family with four cases and a bulky pushchair it is the luggage that decides the vehicle class, not the headcount.
If you land at night
A large share of charter flights arrive between 11pm and 5am. It changes nothing about the transfer, and there is no night surcharge. Two things are still worth doing: settle a night check-in with the hotel beforehand, and keep the driver's number in your phone rather than in an email. More in landing between 11pm and 5am.
The journey home
The same list applies again on the way back, with one difference: if you booked the two legs separately, the infant carrier is not automatically booked for the return. Check it when the pickup time is confirmed. When that time falls and how it is arrived at is in when should you leave your hotel for the airport.
Common questions
Does a baby need its own seat in the vehicle?
Yes. Unlike on the aircraft, every child counts as a person in a vehicle and needs a place — include them in the passenger count.
Do you have infant carriers, or should I bring my own?
Either works. Book a child seat in step two and add the age, or note in the notes field that you are bringing your own — then we will not bring a second.
Do I have to declare the pushchair?
Yes, as extra luggage at €10. That is not a charge for telling us; it is what makes a vehicle with a suitable boot turn up.
Where do I get the pushchair back after landing?
Usually at the aircraft or the outsize baggage desk rather than the normal belt. Tell the driver if you still have to collect it — he will wait.
Related reading
Booking a Child Seat: What We Need to Know, and When
Up to four seats at €5 each — and one detail without which we bring the wrong one: the age.
Read the articlePickupLanding Between 11pm and 5am: How a Night Arrival Works
A large share of charter flights land in the small hours. What stays the same, what genuinely differs — and what people expect to differ and does not.
Read the articleLuggageGolf Bags, Pushchairs and Wheelchairs: Declaring Oversized Luggage
Anything not shaped like a suitcase needs declaring — item by item, with what it costs and why.
Read the article