Has anyone flown recently with children?

[npmommie]

Did the airline ask for their birthdate? I know they are asking now, but am wondering if we also have to bring other ID. How do they know the birthdate you provide is actually the child's birthdate? It would seem like we would need to bring some form of ID

 

[klynn]

Did the airline ask for their birthdate? I know they are asking now, but am wondering if we also have to bring other ID. How do they know the birthdate you provide is actually the child's birthdate? It would seem like we would need to bring some form of ID

I just flew last month (after Christmas) with my 2 kids. They did not ask for ID's.

 

[tjmw2727]

No - id isn't necessary for passengers under 18.

The exception is a baby under 2 flying wihtout a ticket on a parents lap as they must prove they qualify to fly free.

To verify you can check your airlines webstie as well as the TSA website.

Most times the TSA agent will ask my children for their name and they occasionally ask my oldest how old she is. Other times they just check my boarding pass and id and waive us all through.

 

[Sandi]

From the TSA's website:

Effective June 21, 2008, adult passengers (18 and over) are required to show a U.S. federal or state-issued photo ID that contains the following: name, date of birth, gender, expiration date and a tamper-resistant feature in order to be allowed to go through the checkpoint and onto their flight.

Passengers who do not or cannot present an acceptable ID will have to provide information to the Transportation Security Officer performing Travel Document Checking duties in order to verify their identity. Passengers who are cleared through this process may be subject to additional screening. Passengers whose identity cannot be verified by TSA may not be allowed to go through the checkpoint or onto an airplane.

DD15 looks like she is 22. We've just presented her passport to security for the last couple of years. It's just easier that way.

 

[npmommie]

So did you have to give the kids birthdates when buying your airline tickets?

this was not in place when we flew last year, they did not ask for birthdate.
I can understand for adults, we have ID to show to match,
but for kids, it makes no sense and its just more personal information floating around.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

So did you have to give the kids birthdates when buying your airline tickets?

this was not in place when we flew last year, they did not ask for birthdate.
I can understand for adults, we have ID to show to match,
but for kids, it makes no sense and its just more personal information floating around.

Birthdates and middle names are a new requirement for TSA so they can compare names with "No Fly Lists." Minors do not need to show identification when going through security or checking in for their flights.

 

[npmommie]

Birthdates and middle names are a new requirement for TSA so they can compare names with "No Fly Lists." Minors do not need to show identification when going through security or checking in for their flights.

I realize this but according to the TSA, there are no children on the no fly list. and do they have the birthdates of all on the no fly list?
I don't think they do.
It just annoys me, I try to safeguard the kids info as much as possible because of all the identity theft out there.

 

[Brian Noble]

If your question is: "Do we have to bring ID for the kids" the answer is no, provided they are not a lap child, nor are 18 or over.

If your question is: "Can I enter an incorrect birthday when I buy the tickets" my advice would be: don't do that. The chances that that might cause trouble, either then or down the line, seem higher than the chances that some airline employee is stealing kids' birthdays for some nefarious reason.

 

[npmommie]

If your question is: "Do we have to bring ID for the kids" the answer is no, provided they are not a lap child, nor are 18 or over.

If your question is: "Can I enter an incorrect birthday when I buy the tickets" my advice would be: don't do that. The chances that that might cause trouble, either then or down the line, seem higher than the chances that some airline employee is stealing kids' birthdays for some nefarious reason.

It isn't even the airline employees, its a lot of things, people hack into systems all the time.
the tsa will be the ones storing the info,
I personally have had my personal information compromised twice by government agencies and had to put alerts on my credit reports because of the possibility of identity theft.
my hubby had his compromised as well by a government agency.
I honestly don't trust them to safeguard personal information.

 

[Bambi222]

My and DH flew to vegas for a wedding in December, our dd's did not go, but there were the grooms nephews that went and at one of the security points they were asking them there name and age. They were 9 and 12 though.

 

[jessica29]

I wouldn't worry too much about giving your child's name at an airport. Name and birthdates are part of public information that anyone can get on any given day. In fact you can go and get somones elses birth certificate if you wanted to... I would be wary of social security numbers being given out.

(I really think kids should be required to have Identification with the rising rate of kindnapping and the child sex slave industry being on the rise. BUT that is my opinion )

 

[kristytru]

you are not required to show ID, but I always bring something with us. OUr kids have school IDs, so I bring those now. When they were younger, I brought a copy of their birth certificates, just in case.
When my son was little, he wouldn't talk to ANYONE. When the security person checked our IDs, she asked him "is this your dad" and he wouldn't answer!!! Luckily she was understanding, but it could have been a problem if it happened today.

 

[Hannathy]

you are not required to show ID, but I always bring something with us. OUr kids have school IDs, so I bring those now. When they were younger, I brought a copy of their birth certificates, just in case.
When my son was little, he wouldn't talk to ANYONE. When the security person checked our IDs, she asked him "is this your dad" and he wouldn't answer!!! Luckily she was understanding, but it could have been a problem if it happened today.

No it wouldn't! That isn't their job. You do not have to prove they are your kids and they do not need ID.

 

[tjmw2727]

No it wouldn't! That isn't their job. You do not have to prove they are your kids and they do not need ID.

Agreed - I travel with my minor neices all the time. And just how would having ID's for children help with law enforcement issues?

Lets not scare folks into thinking they need something they don't need. Not to mention that school id's and birth certificates don't even meet the TSA criteria for acceptable forms of ID anyway.

 

[ancestry]

Birthdates and middle names are a new requirement for TSA so they can compare names with "No Fly Lists."

I just booked our flight on Jet Blue last week. Jet Blue didn't ask for any of our birth dates nor did they ask for our middle names. There wasn't anywhere on the online reservation form to put our middle names.

 

[Brian Noble]

Airlines are slowly implementing these. I am a NW captive in DTW, and nwa.com never had been updated to ask that. But nwa.com is going to go poof on the 31st of this month, so I'm transitioning all my bookings to Delta. In making my first delta.com booking today, I was asked to provide my "secure flight" information, which included my birthday, and my name exactly as it appears on my identity document. Luckily, my driver's license and passport both have my middle name spelled in full, so that will not be an issue. I also booked a segment on southwest.com today, and they asked me for the same information.

It will only be a matter of time before all domestic airlines implement this.

Lets not scare folks into thinking they need something they don't need.

Indeed. With your own children (or anyone you have legal guardianship for) you really don't need to carry anything. Our kids have passports, and we leave them at home (the passports, not the kids) when we are traveling purely domestically. However, if I were traveling with minors for whom I was not legal guardian, I would want a medical power of attorney at the very least---otherwise, I would not be able to seek or authorize any medical care in case something happened.

 

[Hoopfamily]

So I just booked our June flights with Southwest and came across an area of their website that said I had to pre-prove my childs age by sending them a copy of her birth certificate. So I called them. I only had to prove age if the airline was selling me a "childs" fare. We were not buying that fare we just got a good deal. Some airlines may require proof of age in these instances but most do not I believe. TSA does not require you to show ID for kids though unless you are travelling internationally.

 

[tjmw2727]

Indeed. With your own children (or anyone you have legal guardianship for) you really don't need to carry anything. Our kids have passports, and we leave them at home (the passports, not the kids) when we are traveling purely domestically. However, if I were traveling with minors for whom I was not legal guardian, I would want a medical power of attorney at the very least---otherwise, I would not be able to seek or authorize any medical care in case something happened.

No - children under 18 don't need ID at all to fly regardless who they are flying with.

I can travel anywhere with my neices and its not any business of the TSA who is traveling with whom. All they are supposed to do is verify that the passenger matches the boarding pass.

A BC or Passport isnt' going to address the issue of legal gardianship anyway. I do carry documents for my neices including those for medical emergency but IMHO that has nothing to do with the question of needing ID for children to clear security.

If the TSA becomes law enforcement and every adult has to prove legal ties to the minors in the party security would be crazy and IMHO they would not be doing the job they are supposed to do. What about band groups and school trips?

 

[tjmw2727]

I just booked our flight on Jet Blue last week. Jet Blue didn't ask for any of our birth dates nor did they ask for our middle names. There wasn't anywhere on the online reservation form to put our middle names.

There is a new requiement to gather full names including middle name or initial, gender and birthday. Not all airlines are collecting this yet so don't worry.

I booke a few flights this week and IIRC, Delta and SWA collected ful informaiton on all travelers and Jet Blue did not.

 

[Brian Noble]

No - children under 18 don't need ID at all to fly regardless who they are flying with.

I can travel anywhere with my neices and its not any business of the TSA who is traveling with whom. All they are supposed to do is verify that the passenger matches the boarding pass.

A BC or Passport isnt' going to address the issue of legal gardianship anyway. I do carry documents for my neices including those for medical emergency but IMHO that has nothing to do with the question of needing ID for children to clear security.

If the TSA becomes law enforcement and every adult has to prove legal ties to the minors in the party security would be crazy and IMHO they would not be doing the job they are supposed to do. What about band groups and school trips?

You mis-read my post. I was not suggesting you need ID. I was suggesting you need a medical power of attorney---and not for TSA's benefit, but for the benefit of the child should they, say, break an arm while in your care. Without such a document, the child's parents would have to be contacted to approve any care the child receives. You may also want insurance coverage information, and other explicit permissions from the child's parents or legal guardians as well, depending on the precise details of the trip, but that's the minimum I would want to have. I would not take anyone else's child on a trip without such approval.