Child few weeks shy of 3

[tarak]

The letter from the parent is worthless. TSA won't even look at it. Birth certificates are needed only for lap babies.

This is my understanding. I've flown with my kids dozens of times and never have I brought a birth certificate. I suppose airline policies can differ but with both JetBlue and southwest, it's only required for lap babies or, in the case of southwest, if you've bought a child fare.

 

[ruthies12]

I'm curious about the birth certificate idea that some people posed, my youngest dd is 2 1/2 won't be 3 til next March, but she is really, really tall for her age. She's 39 1/2 inches and is taller than some 4 year olds I know. I thought about bringing her birth certificate but then wondered what that really proves? I mean it isn't like they have a picture or anything on them so how do they even know that the birth certificate your showing is actually for that child? Am I missing something?

Anyway OP, I took my oldest DD just before her 3rd bday a few years ago and never had any issues at all and she was pretty tall for her age too.

 

[Baklava]

I have heard of people being asked, "does she have a ticket" for a kid in the "maybe 3" range but they've all reported that "no" was accepted without a fuss. CMs need to make sure all the tickets get scanned so they'll work for FP, so they do need to ask but there doesn't seem to be any serious policing of this one.

 

[Aurora0427]

If you are flying I would absolutely bring a birth certificate copy. Different question I know

No.... You don't need a copy of your child's birth certificate when flying domestically. Don't bring it- if it were to get lost you open up the door for identity theft on your child.

We've flown a minimum of ten times within the States with our 4.5 year old since she was 15 months. We've never needed a birth certificate. I brought it when she was a lap baby. They didn't even look at it.

 

[Aurora0427]

I'm curious about the birth certificate idea that some people posed, my youngest dd is 2 1/2 won't be 3 til next March, but she is really, really tall for her age. She's 39 1/2 inches and is taller than some 4 year olds I know. I thought about bringing her birth certificate but then wondered what that really proves? I mean it isn't like they have a picture or anything on them so how do they even know that the birth certificate your showing is actually for that child? Am I missing something?

Anyway OP, I took my oldest DD just before her 3rd bday a few years ago and never had any issues at all and she was pretty tall for her age too.

No! Don't bring your child's birth certificate to Disney World! See my prior post!

 

[Aurora0427]

This is my understanding. I've flown with my kids dozens of times and never have I brought a birth certificate. I suppose airline policies can differ but with both JetBlue and southwest, it's only required for lap babies or, in the case of southwest, if you've bought a child fare.[/QUOTE

They sell child fares????

 

[njmousefest]

No.... You don't need a copy of your child's birth certificate when flying domestically. Don't bring it- if it were to get lost you open up the door for identity theft on your child.

We've flown a minimum of ten times within the States with our 4.5 year old since she was 15 months. We've never needed a birth certificate. I brought it when she was a lap baby. They didn't even look at it.

I brought copies last time I went just in case the airlines made any issue of travelling with kids that aren't ours (you never know). Not too concerned with ID theft. That already happened earlier this year with the anthem hack...

 

[tarak]

Aurora0427, if you google child fare and southwest, you'll find the information. There's an 800 number to call for booking. I've not bothered because, as I understand it from threads on the transportation board, the Wanna Get Away fares are usually cheaper. I saw that with the senior fares. When I checked for my mom, the senior fare was about three times the WGA fare.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I thought about bringing her birth certificate but then wondered what that really proves? I mean it isn't like they have a picture or anything on them so how do they even know that the birth certificate your showing is actually for that child? Am I missing something?

In the case of a lap baby on an airplane, they don't. But if something happens, a passenger who passed their 4 year old off as a lap baby to avoid buying the kid a ticket might not get much relief when suing for injuries to the child (or maybe themselves as well) if it could be shown that the birth certificate they used was not the birth certificate of that particular child.

Disney won't ask you for a birth certificate. If you take one along it will be only to deflect questioning if you feel like they might ask you if the kid is really under 3.

 

[calismic]

We took my daughter a week before her 3rd birthday and we were never asked her age. She was 40 inches tall as well, so she certainly didn't look like she was still 2!

 

[never_enough_pooh]

Our youngest turned 3 on a Disney trip and like other posters mentioned Disney considers the age at check in so even though he turned 3 on the trip and he wore a Happy Birthday pin (and he would say he turned 3) we never were questioned for a ticket. Our then 4 year old on the other hand proudly wanted to use his magic band at the gates and most cast members were surprised he was getting out of our stroller to scan a band for entry.

 

[LisaInNc]

I forgot my DDs BC on a Southwest flight, the ticketing desk called the hospital where she was born.

 

[Raenstoirm]

The reason for the birth certificate is not for the flight as such. It is for safety. Lets say you are on a disney bus and it crashes. You are injured/dead/unconscious. The medical team sees your name because your have drivers license on you. They also see you carrying the birth certificate of a three year old girl. There was also a 3ish year old girl in the bus accident. They can assume that little girl is yours. If you are not carrying something to link the child to you, it may take them days to figure out who the child is. If not a birth certificate you should keep something on you that says you are traveling with your 3 year old daughter Jane. Thats obviously a worse case scenario, but that is why you should always have some sort of ID of your child on your person when you travel. Same goes for home. Some car seats have a little compartment where you put a paper saying your childs name and birthday and any other relevant data. If yours does not have one, you should tape a piece of paper to your seat saying these things. If you are seriously injured in a car accident, the first responders will look for that piece of paper in/on the carseat to figure out the name and age of the child. Even an older child that could answer questions under normal circumstances might be knocked unconscious or in shock so the same piece of paper should be put on a booster seat. The chance of needing this is slim to none, but it is an easy safety measure to take.
Now if you are traveling with someone else's child, a note from the parent is VERY important. It gives you permission to get that child medical treatment in case of emergency without having to hunt down the parents.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To me this is kinda like when you get carded for alcohol for places that don't have a "if you appear under age 30 or 40 you will be carded" due to not appearing old enough only in the case of WDW its the opposite where you may appear older than you actually are for the children.

If you look like you are older than 2 (to get in free) or 9 (for the adult ticket) you may run into questions from individual CMs or at your hotel (outside of the ticket gate because as one person already pointed out they need to scan the appropriate number of tickets/magic bands per family for all the various reasons (FP+, ADR, etc)).

Disney as a whole though doesn't really want to get into the whole let me check every single child's identity to see if parents are actually buying tickets or the right one for their age debacle. To me if there was an issue it would be because an individual CM wants to make it an issue.

That being said if Disney noticed that over time it seemed more and more children were there without proper tickets for their age they could become more strict on it (I don't see this even remotely happening in the near future but I think it should still be mentioned). To me it's like the few dishonest people when it came to DAS made it much harder for those that were abiding by the rules once Disney decided it had had enough and now most people are upset with the whole DAS process/rules.

 

[china mom]

My son has always been freakishly tall for his age....looking 4 when he was an early 2. We were only asked once and our word was taken as gold.

On the other issue (birth certificate when traveling), I have never felt the need even though our Chinese daughter looks nothing like us. Never had a problem anywhere either at home or traveling.

 

[Pixiedustaway07]

We went just before our son's 3rd birthday a few years ago. We never had anyone ask for proof of his age. Now with the magic bands I've noticed once you scan one the information comes up on their screens who you are and your age, and anything you might be celebrating. They also know who is in your party. It's how they "magically" know to wish you a happy birthday or happy anniversary if you told them prior to your trip. So you shouldn't have any problems

 

[tabrizia]

The letter from the parent is worthless. TSA won't even look at it. Birth certificates are needed only for lap babies.

Not related to the actual thread. This is not completely true, when you fly especially internationally without both parents immigration will occasionally ask for a notarized letter from the other parent stating they know and give permission for you to travel with the child. It mainly depends on the immigration officer if they will ask or not, but it is a possibility. I never get a letter when traveling solo domestically with my kids without my husband, but when we stayed a week longer then him on our last international trip, I did have a notarized letter just in case.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not related to the actual thread. This is not completely true, when you fly especially internationally without both parents immigration will occasionally ask for a notarized letter from the other parent stating they know and give permission for you to travel with the child. It mainly depends on the immigration officer if they will ask or not, but it is a possibility. I never get a letter when traveling solo domestically with my kids without my husband, but when we stayed a week longer then him on our last international trip, I did have a notarized letter just in case.

I know that is true when it comes to being on a cruise ship for sure so if you were to take a Disney Cruise that goes internationally you would need to have a letter if you are not the parents of the child you are taking.

 

[bumbershoot]

They sell child fares????

Yes. They are generally a percentage off the full fare, so a WannaGetAway fare is generally better.

If you look like you are older than 2 (to get in free) or 9 (for the adult ticket) you may run into questions from individual CMs or at your hotel (outside of the ticket gate because as one person already pointed out they need to scan the appropriate number of tickets/magic bands per family for all the various reasons (FP+, ADR, etc)).

And the question you would run into is "and how old are you?" and the 1 year old answers "10!" and the CM laughs and lets you in. Because exaggerating at that age is an age-appropriate thing.

The only time I've heard of an issue was a story Cheshire_Figment told, where a dad was trying to get his 4 year old through, and said that the child was 3 so he should get in free. Oops. He was wrong about the free age, and the 4 year old totally outed the lie anyway.

This is not completely true, when you fly especially internationally without both parents immigration will occasionally ask for a notarized letter from the other parent stating they know and give permission for you to travel with the child.

Can be required. But as you said, it isn't relevant for the thread or what you responded to, because we are ONLY talking about domestic flights here. And Immigration isn't TSA.



And to another response....if a 1st Responder took time to look for a piece of paper in a carseat when they should be saving the lives of the people in the car I'd be fairly miffed. If a kid is in a car, they belong to that car and the people in that car. No carseats allowed on Disney buses.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Couldn't get the reply to work correctly here but in response to Bumbershoot's quote:
"And the question you would run into is "and how old are you?" and the 1 year old answers "10!" and the CM laughs and lets you in. Because exaggerating at that age is an age-appropriate thing."

Umm someone sounds a bit cranky here especially with your other responses to people's comments. Of course no CM would have a problem with a 1 year old who says they are 10...you are totally taking it in a captain obvious route here.

Can you tell the difference every single time between a child who is 2 or 3 or a child who is 9 or 10???? No, and that was my point because as people have already mentioned it is largely an honor system when purchasing the tickets or reserving the hotel room based on the age of the child when the vacation will actually occur.

I never, and still don't, look(ed) my age I always looked several years younger than I was. However, my sister always looked older than she was. So growing up while I might have been 10 but looked like I was 8 (I was the same height as my mom, who is 5' 3" but it took me until age 17). Conversely my sister may have been 8 but looked like she was 10 (my sister was taller than my mom by age 9 and continued to grow until she was 6'). My sister would obviously raise the eyebrowns more than I would.

And I said you might have questions from individual CMs not that every single person you ran into would question that. It is largely the children who look to be older than they are that tend to caused ANY questions but that is unlikely to happen unless an individual CM wants to question it.