Airline Question - Daughter turns 2 while on trip

[stitchlovestink]

See a year ago they did not ask for any type of proof for my 23 month old and he's very tall for his age. Lol no need for an all caps wrong. Sheesh people.

Honestly, consider yourself LUCKY!! Without a birth certificate, normally you would have been required to purchase him a ticket and then they would have refunded it after you provided proof of his age. You were lucky...
I bet someone overlooked it!
They have been known to require birth certificates for babies that are only a few months old!! Babies that are clearly under 2, and they have made parents buy tickets and then refunded the ticket price when the parent provided a copy of the BC. They say it is policy.

What attitude? I am confused.

You may find it scary, but I think this is not a valid concern. It's not like kids are kidnapped and flown about the country every day. Minors have never had to have id to fly domestically, except in limited cases. I can remember when NO ONE needed to show id to fly. You didn't even have to fly under your own name..

bolding is mine...
Yup...the passenger manifest wasn't necessarily truly accurate!

Just what kind of id would the average child have anyway? This is silly.

EXACTLY!! even making parents bring BCs isn't "REALLY" going to do anything. Unless it's a photo ID, anyone could use one BC for another kid. Think about it, how easy would it be to do?? There are no rules or regulations about who can travel with a kid. Unless you went to a photo ID system of some sort, you are talking about a nightmare for enforcement.

 

[sam_gordon]

A birth certificate

But what does a birth certificate prove? As mentioned, there's no photo, so it can't be matched with a specific child. The parents (at the time of birth) may or may not be listed on it.

So how does a BC help prevent kidnapped children from being taken onto an airplane?

 

[crashbb]

No, just you.

Actually, you've now yelled at two separate posters who have commented to you.

I agree with both of them - requiring a birth certificate for all children will not help keep children safe. Based on numerous threads on the Cruise board, where people are panicking over missing birth certificates, the only thing that it will do is stress out more families.

OP - You will need a seat for your child on the way home. Some people way not have a been asked for birth certificates, but most people are. This is an FAA rule, so the airline can get dinged with massive fines if they are caught not checking the age of passengers flying as lap children (i.e. it is not like the age rule for getting into WDW for free).

 

[LadyBeBop]

Getting back to the original poster. The only place your toddler won't age is Disney. She'll be one throughout the trip; however once she leaves Disney property and boards the plane back home, she'll be two and needs a seat.

I do have a question though. Would they check for birth certificates in a situation where the child is clearly an infant? I mean, less than a month old. Five years ago, we had a situation in which my less-than-month-old granddaughter would have been flying with me. She did not have a birth certificate at the time. As it turned out, DGD did not fly with me, but I've always wondered. She would have been a lap baby.

 

[Gracie09]

Getting back to the original poster. The only place your toddler won't age is Disney. She'll be one throughout the trip; however once she leaves Disney property and boards the plane back home, she'll be two and needs a seat.

I do have a question though. Would they check for birth certificates in a situation where the child is clearly an infant? I mean, less than a month old. Five years ago, we had a situation in which my less-than-month-old granddaughter would have been flying with me. She did not have a birth certificate at the time. As it turned out, DGD did not fly with me, but I've always wondered. She would have been a lap baby.

Some times yes some times no. It doesn't have to be a birth certificate though. That's just the most common. It can be hospital discharge papers, immunization records etc

 

[gwynne]

Getting back to the original poster. The only place your toddler won't age is Disney. She'll be one throughout the trip; however once she leaves Disney property and boards the plane back home, she'll be two and needs a seat.

I do have a question though. Would they check for birth certificates in a situation where the child is clearly an infant? I mean, less than a month old. Five years ago, we had a situation in which my less-than-month-old granddaughter would have been flying with me. She did not have a birth certificate at the time. As it turned out, DGD did not fly with me, but I've always wondered. She would have been a lap baby.

I can say SW does. I realize there are occasional stories about passengers not having that experience, but generally you can count of SW asking for a birth certificate (or other acceptable documentation). And they ask even when the baby is clearly under a month or two.

 

[sam_gordon]

Seriously? Children would have nightmares because they need to have a birth certificate or passport to get on a plane?

I'm pretty sure OCC was saying it would be a logistical nightmare to make sure children had IDs to fly, not that children would have nightmares.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I do have a question though. Would they check for birth certificates in a situation where the child is clearly an infant? I mean, less than a month old. Five years ago, we had a situation in which my less-than-month-old granddaughter would have been flying with me. She did not have a birth certificate at the time. As it turned out, DGD did not fly with me, but I've always wondered. She would have been a lap baby.

Yes, even babies who are obviously under age 2 need to have a birth certificate if they are flying as lap babies.

DisneyFansInLINY, a birth certificate would be useless as an id for flying. As already noted, there is no photo. It is not an id. I personally think the whole issue of ids required for minors to fly domestically is ridiculous. In fact, it's a non-issue.

 

[goofy4tink]

Ok. SW should be asking for birth cents for any lap babies.....that's supposed to be their policy. They need to be consistent.

As long as the airline says a child can fly as a lap baby, then it's fine. I wouldn't do it but that's my choice. I don't want a squirmy baby on my lap. But SW says its fine, then there is no further discussion needed as far as how safe it is.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Getting back to the original poster. The only place your toddler won't age is Disney. She'll be one throughout the trip; however once she leaves Disney property and boards the plane back home, she'll be two and needs a seat.

I do have a question though. Would they check for birth certificates in a situation where the child is clearly an infant? I mean, less than a month old. Five years ago, we had a situation in which my less-than-month-old granddaughter would have been flying with me. She did not have a birth certificate at the time. As it turned out, DGD did not fly with me, but I've always wondered. She would have been a lap baby.

Well things may have changed, but I thought Drs didn't want you flying with babies under 4 weeks of age. My younger DD has had horrible ear issues (at least 10 sets of PE tubes) and our ENT (who is highly regarded,many of the Drs use him for their own families) does not recommend taking a baby that young on a plane because it can be damaging to their ears.
I guess if you had to in an absolute emergency, but me personally, I still would have to REALLY think that one thru!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I flew with my son at 10 months old and he had a seat, but his ticket was Southwest’s infant fare. They told me I’d need his BC to prove he qualified for that fare. I had it. No one asked, but I had it. I was surprised they didn't ask. Still if they say they will ask, I would not go without it.

While they aren’t required to have ID, my daughter is usually asked her name and “who are you traveling with today?”. They also asked her, “What’s the baby’s name?” referring to ds. And they asked her if he was her brother. On another flight, ds was 21 months old and the TSA guy called out his name to see if he would look at him.

Thank goodness he wasn't distracted by something else.

 

[Lewisc]

As long as the airline says a child can fly as a lap baby, then it's fine. I wouldn't do it but that's my choice. I don't want a squirmy baby on my lap. But SW says its fine, then there is no further discussion needed as far as how safe it is.

Safety rules require stowing your personal items including books, phones, pocketbooks etc during take off and landing. The concern is what happens if a passenger doesn't hold on to the object. Logically the same rule should apply to infants. I've heard two reasons as to why lap babies are permitted. One thought is some famlies would drive. The safety risks driving are thought to be greater then the risks from flying. Airlines think banning lap babies might cause pressure on them to offer deeply discounted seats for passengers (lap babies) who formerly flew for free.

I agree with you, to a point. The industry has decided lap babies are "safe enough". Some of the "pro safety" posters may be going overboard.

Some parents seem to "forget" the age of their kids. Asking for BC from all parents (of lap babies and passengers flying on an age qualified fare) avoids complaints. You didn't ask the Mom in front of me for a BC. Her kids looks just as old as mine. Some places ask for photo ID from every person ordering an adult beverage, even from customers who are in their 60s. They don't want an employee jeopardizing a liquor license when deciding who looks "old enough". Easier require checking ID from everyone. Easier to ask for a BC from everyone rather then make judgements.

My guess. A child is clearly an infant, and there aren't any other parents in line, the GA might not ask.

 

[NotUrsula]

Security does NOT come into this issue at all.

The airline is not asking for birth-date verification (it is not proof of identity they want, but proof of age) for reasons of making sure that the person traveling with the child has a right to that child; they honestly do not care about that at all; it isn't their problem, legally speaking.

For the airline, this is first and last an issue of money. There are two reasons that they require it: 1) to avoid getting fined by the FAA for allowing overage children to fly without their own berths, and 2) to avoid letting passengers cheat them out of a fare.

The policy to ask for POA for every passenger travelling in an age-restricted fare category applies to every age-dependent fare; older folks wanting to get the senior fare have to prove their ages as well.

It is really no different from a store rule that EVERY customer gets carded for liquor purchases; it is to avoid clerks making bad or careless judgment calls that will cost the business money.

As to traveling by air under a name not your own, it is still completely possible, and really isn't all that difficult to do on a domestic flight. (It has always been difficult on international flights, because ID has always been required for those.)