Flying 1st time with 1 year old

[MMacDonald1589]

I am flying for the first time with my 1 year old. I am reading mixed things about a diaper bag counting towards your personal items. I will be bringing the following:

-1 stroller, I am gate checking

-1 small carry on suitcase

-1 personal bag for carry on 

-1 diaper bag **Is this allowed/will it be counted as a personal item**

& does a baby carrier like the baby bjorn count towards a personal item? 

Any hep would be greatly appreciated. 

[floridaguy]

You have one checked item and three carry on items.  Check one of the items to have only two carry on items.

[TheMiddleSeat · Accepted solution]

To provide a more thorough answer to your question, assuming you are planning to have the child be a lap child, you get one carry-on bag and one personal item. The diaper bag would count as an item and is not exempt from the baggage policy so to ensure quick and easy boarding it is suggested that you somehow combine these three items down to two

-1 small carry on suitcase

-1 personal bag for carry on 

-1 diaper bag

OR... since you are gate checking the stroller, go ahead and gate check the small carry-on suitcase too. That would get you under the limit of one carry-on iten and one personal item.

The baby carrier isn't going to be counted. 

Having said all that, if the child has their own ticket then you actually get 2 carry-on items and 2 personal items so there's no problem with your original plan.

Hopefully that's clearer than previous information you've received. Enjoy your flight!

--TheMiddleSeat

[DancingDavidE]

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@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

To provide a more thorough answer to your question, assuming you are planning to have the child be a lap child, you get one carry-on bag and one personal item. The diaper bag would count as an item and is not exempt from the baggage policy so to ensure quick and easy boarding it is suggested that you somehow combine these three items down to two

-1 small carry on suitcase

-1 personal bag for carry on 

-1 diaper bag

OR... since you are gate checking the stroller, go ahead and gate check the small carry-on suitcase too. That would get you under the limit of one carry-on iten and one personal item.

The baby carrier isn't going to be counted. 

Having said all that, if the child has their own ticket then you actually get 2 carry-on items and 2 personal items so there's no problem with your original plan.

Hopefully that's clearer than previous information you've received. Enjoy your flight!

---

I can't find the reference but I do remember brining diaper bags as an extra third carry-on for a lap child.

Not sure if that has changed or been clarified to not be the case currently.

TSA allows it generally, I can find the citation for one of the other carriers where diaper bag is explicitly allowed as a third item. That airline is known to be crabbier than Southwest, so I'm thinking it is still allowed for Southwest as well.