Getting Through an Airport with too Much Stuff

We have now completed the first leg of our current journey, from Newark to Lisbon. It was tiring, of course, and probably the most important lesson learned has to do with getting through an airport carrying way too much stuff.

Our first hurdle once arriving to EWR was getting everything to the check-in counter. While we tried not to pack too much stuff, I think in the end we failed on that front. Two large uprights, one small one, two smallish backpacks, car seat, stroller, two briefcases, purse, and kid-sized backpack to boot. That’s a lot to haul for two adults along with a kid.

The stuff, minus car seat, stroller, and one backpack

Immediately on arrival to check-in with TAP Portugal, the first hiccup happened. No problem for Jana or I to check in, but the Little Lady was categorized as both an infant and a child so her reservation could not be associated with a ticket (or something like that). After a walk to United reservations desk for some non-help (it was an award ticket using United miles so we needed their help), back up to TAP where they decided to just print some boarding passes and talk to United themselves to sort things out. Thanks TAP people! All good once we got to the gate.

So back to the original point. We had a system for carrying all that stuff through the airport. Stroller carried LL plus a briefcase and the car seat strapped on behind (see the photo). Other briefcase got stuffed into a suitcase and checked. Prior to check-in Jana pushed the stroller and pulled one suitcase while carrying a backpack. I pushed one and pulled one while carrying a backpack. Doable with that system.

Note the special strap from gogobabeez.

As we discovered upon arrival in Lisbon, not so doable without the stroller available. TAP decided to deliver the stroller to baggage claim rather than bringing it to the jetway for pickup. That made things a lot harder, even without the three suitcases that were checked. We had to carry LL (she walked some thank goodness), two backpacks, a briefcase, and a convertible car seat. Not fun. But, we made it.

The flight itself was good, though I really wish they had done two things a bit differently. First, for a flight that is leaving at 6PM which is like 11PM at your destination, dinner ought to be served sooner than 2.5 hours into the flight. Second, on a flight arriving at 6AM at the destination I want to sleep as much as possible. Having the cabin lights dimmed for more than 2.5 hours would also be nice. But LL slept reasonably well. We brought along a dark sheet to tent over her car seat.

And that reminds me of one final point. We got the LL a seat instead of paying 10% of fare to sit on our laps (that’s the standard on international flights rather than free for lap infants domestically). That meant she could sit in her car seat. It meant that she slept. And unless it is completely unavoidable I would never do an overnight flight or one over 5 hours with a lap infant. Just don’t do it if can avoid it.