JetKids by Stokke is a ride-on suitcase for kids that upgrades their economy seat into a lie-flat bed. Senior travel new editor Michelle Baran recently tried it out with her two kids. Here’s what she loved and didn’t love in this honest review of the popular children’s suitcase.
Read more about our favorite travel gear for families.
Transcript
You may have seen kids rolling around on these funny looking suitcases at the airport. Well, recently mine were two of them. This suitcase is called Jet Kids by Stokke, and today I’m going to show you what it was like to actually travel with them on a two-week trip to Europe.
So Stokke is a Norwegian company that designs all kinds of great kids gear, both for the home and for travel. One product they make is the Jet Kids by Stokke ride-on suitcases. Not only can kids ride these carry-ons through the airport, but they also include padding that unfolds to change an economy seat into a small life at bed for tiny travelers.
The top of the Stokke suitcase pops up to create a platform that serves as a footrest and the kids can stretch out. As soon as we received the Stokkes in the mail, both of my kids were over the moon excited. They had so much fun decorating them with the included stickers and immediately started riding them all over the house. Packing them, however, was a little tight. The padding for the live flat beds takes up a lot of space inside the suitcase, but with the small additional backpacks which you can buy as an add-on for $40 and some creative Tetris work, we were able to make it all fit.
The ride-on aspect was by far the biggest plus of the Jet Kids by Stokke suitcases. It allowed the kids to “carry their own things.” They didn’t need to be carried by us, and they just proved to be so much fun in the airports. And we got huge smiles from passengers and flight crew who were so amused by them. When my son and daughter got tired of scooting themselves around, we simply got out the longer handles and pulled them along, which is still much easier than carrying them. I was worried the kids might be a bit big, but at four and six years old, their ages were honestly perfect for these ride-on suitcases because they could actually push themselves around.
Sadly, the bed conversion aspect, which I was pretty excited about, was a bit of a flop for me. It helped get my kids excited about being in their airplane seats and set the stage for bedtime and getting cozy on our overnight flight to Europe. But the padding just does not stick to the seat and inevitably gets pushed down and off the seat while they sleep. Ultimately, they did sleep out of necessity, but I’m not sure how much the padding helped, if at all. For future trips, I might just skip it and save the space it takes up in the suitcase or I’ll try to think of a way to make it stick. Better parents. If you figured out anything to help with this, let me know in the comments below.
Okay, we’re back from Europe and I just have to say that the amount of joy and convenience these brought us, our kids, everyone around us at the airports, the Jet Kids by Stokke are such a fun addition to the gear roster for traveling families, and my verdict is they are well worth the $230 they cost.
