How I made a mistake over the British Airways rules for unaccompanied children

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• Tim says:

  14 Aug14 August 08:27

  Having flown with an 11 year old grandson and knowing the UK and Australian rules it was clear that it is necessary to have all relevant paperwork irrespective of what a carrier may or may not say. Buyer beware is my view

• Yona says:

  14 Aug14 August 08:36

  Even if Rob’s daughter is Silver she won’t be able to enter the lounge alone as she is under 18.

  But if she was naughty enough (and read daddy’s website forum) she may learn that if she found an adult flying OW she could guest him or her and enter too!

  • Rob says:

    14 Aug14 August 08:39

    She got into the lounge in Heathrow and Geneva. I told her in advance it wasn’t allowed but worth trying because BA IT being BA IT …..

    • Gordon says:

      14 Aug14 August 08:45

      “BA IT” That’s how your daughter attained silver in the first place Rob 😉, I’m not knocking it as it has helped me also gain silver status sooner, May it continue….

    • Londonsteve says:

      14 Aug14 August 10:24

      What, you mean to say that if your whole family is flying in J, you can’t all enter the lounge? Or indeed, if at least 50% of the family has lounge access through status even though you’re flying Economy?

      • sigma421 says:

        14 Aug14 August 11:01

        Someone under 18 shouldn’t be able to get in without an adult accompanying them (due to the free pour alcohol). A family would have no issues.

  • Bagoly says:

    14 Aug14 August 14:58

    A truly perverse incentive of the rules!

    • Toilet Paper Man says:

      14 Aug14 August 20:52

      The rules are only there due to self serve alcohol.

• JDB says:

  14 Aug14 August 08:39

  People should also check the entry rules for certain countries if only one parent is travelling with children under 18, eg South Africa.

  • David says:

    14 Aug14 August 09:24

    Had a shock on first trip to SA back in 2016. Child was 3 and was told we needed a birth certificate to leave the country. Long story short. Our landlord did us a huge favour and went inside our home, picked it up and got us a scanned copy. Lesson learned.

    • Joe says:

      14 Aug14 August 12:21

      I got a scare at Heathrow.

      I was told this is because I was flying on a one way ticket with my daughter (my wife wasn’t with us). Both British citizens.

      They seemed to find it hard to understand that it was infact the return leg of a two leg trip and we live abroad…

  • Peter says:

    14 Aug14 August 11:57

    Poland is tricky too!
    I have a Polish passport, my daughter only UK (due to wife not being Polish obtaining Polish passport for daughter is not easy and we never bothered).
    Polish law requires Polish person to present Polish documents when leaving country.. and by blood-law she’s Polish – so you can be refused at the border from leaving country (flying in is fine though), the only walk around is to fly via another EU country or from neighbourhood country (no need to show documents crossing to another EU country).

    • krys_k says:

      14 Aug14 August 12:21

      My wife is Polish and I’m a British citizen. No issues getting a PL passport for three year old daughter. And have flown in and out of PL probably around 20 times since her birth and never an issue at immigration.

      • Peter says:

        14 Aug14 August 12:35

        Did you fly just with daughter using two different passports UK & PL? Not saying it happens every single time but there are cases online when it happened.
        Regarding passport, it’s more of embassy visits, documents translations etc.

        • krys_k says:

          14 Aug14 August 14:07

          We take both passports with us. We usually use the PL passport to enter and leave as there are no 90 day post-Brexit restrictions.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      14 Aug14 August 14:04

      Easy or not I’d bother. Wish I could do the same but sadly even Jack Charlton couldn’t find an Irish relative in my family tree.

      As things stand you will have made sure a significant number of doors are open in her future that might otherwise be shut.

    • Bagoly says:

      14 Aug14 August 14:45

      But if you present a British passport for her, how do they know she is blood Polish?
      If you live in Poland, then presumably to avoid the 90-day rule she needs a Brexit Permanent Residency Card?

• Steve says:

  14 Aug14 August 08:51

  Golly, How times change…
  I was first an UM aged 9, by 14 I was checking into hotels on my own, ordering (and getting!) pints of beer with my meal.
  Obviously a fair few years ago.

  • Mutley says:

    14 Aug14 August 10:42

    Things haven’t changed that much, one of my boys recently flew to Croatia on BA in business (Aged 16) ordered champers, and got it! cheeky bugger.

    • Gordon says:

      14 Aug14 August 10:54

      Obviously looked old enough! It’s a completely different situation in the US, (Not in an airport lounge) although this law has been in existence for many years,

      I saw a lot of people being caught out in Walgreens for not having photo ID for the purchase of alcohol (if you’re 18 or 80) in Las Vegas in April.

      • BP says:

        14 Aug14 August 11:20

        I got ID’d buying a coke from a bar in Vegas. The bartender explained that he IDs everyone regardless of what they order so that there can be no accusation of serving minors alcohol.

        • Gordon says:

          14 Aug14 August 12:00

          I had to double take until I knew you meant beverage Coke! But on that note I would say that the smell of cannabis everywhere is disgusting, It has put me off returning more than the sky high prices in US atm.
          The stench was even in the corridors of the hotels that are supposed to be no smoking!

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        14 Aug14 August 11:21

        Carding is pretty common in the US.

        It’s more noteworthy not to be carded.

        • lumma says:

          14 Aug14 August 12:52

          I once got refused in Boston in a store and he wouldn’t accept my UK licence, only US ones, would only accept a passport.

          I thought was ludicrous as surely you’re more likely to see a European driving licence in Boston than say a Wyoming or North Dakota one.

        • Rhys says:

          14 Aug14 August 14:27

          My experience in the US (shops and bars/restaurants) is that generally a UK licence is fine. I’ve only been refused based on a licence at a gay bar in Tampa (of all places…) – very annoying.

        • Brian P says:

          14 Aug14 August 14:32

          Yes I’ve been feeling very old not getting carded this holiday (now 42)..

        • Sideshowbob says:

          14 Aug14 August 14:38

          @Rhys the same happened to me being refused the same way in gay bar in Chicago.

    • Joe says:

      14 Aug14 August 12:26

      Presumably with a meal. In which case its legal under British law if you were there.

      • Rob says:

        14 Aug14 August 15:41

        My 15 year old is looking forward to Christmas when she will be legally able to walk into a pub in Germany and order a beer, no meal and no adult required.

    • Bagoly says:

      14 Aug14 August 14:57

      @Mutley From an HfP readership view, sincere congratulations on your parenting achievement!

    • Paul says:

      14 Aug14 August 19:45

      My daughter aged 2, in 2004 was seated in the middle seat of QF business class. Prior to pushback the crew offered us Champagne which my wife and I accepted in those little glasses.
      We were momentarily distracted and had to get something out the hand bag and when we settled again noted both glasses were empty!! She slept the whole way to Singapore!! Shocking parenting!!
      This weekend was her 21st and she can still polish off a bottle of champagne with no effects!!!

• Novice says:

  14 Aug14 August 09:13

  I had a close call when flying to kenya a few years ago. When it had never been made clear I needed the evisa and BA wouldn’t let me check in at MAN saying I didn’t have visa for my lhr flight to kenya.

  It was so early and I know my family aren’t morning ppl. The only person I knew might be awake was my sister who then promised to fill the form and crop a pic she had of me on her phone and send all online paperwork while I’m flying to lhr.

  Then I had to argue with ba that by the time I get to london it’ll be done. Ba were being difficult but I said well I’m going london at the least as I’m sure I don’t need a visa for that.

  😂

  In the end my sister got it all done and sent by the time I got london. But I learnt my lesson.

• John Billing says:

  14 Aug14 August 09:17

  I started flying on my own when I was 5 and did this very often. Great times. Regarding the photo copy of parents passport and letter is a passport office request not BA

  • RussellH says:

    14 Aug14 August 10:06

    I did not set foot on an aircraft until I was 24 or 25 (for a transatlantic trip).
    But I was travelling the London Underground on my own at 6, if not 5.
    First foreign trip on my own was at 13 – three trains, one ferry and crossing Paris on the Metro from Gare du Nord to Gare d’Austerlitz.
    I was well briefed in advance, but had made any number of complex train journeys in the UK.
    And of course, no requirement to prove parental permission to leave the country – just had to show my own passport.

    • krys_k says:

      14 Aug14 August 12:33

      I travelled alone three times a year from around six. Alternative Warsaw and Harare to visit family. Really loved being so ‘old’ and travelling. Still travelling 40 years later and still loving it.

• J says:

  14 Aug14 August 09:23

  Was this a BA specific parental consent form or just a general one (like the ADAC one I have to fill out everytime my wife takes the kids to Germany without me)?
  Is this BA specific for all routes, or dependent on destination? I’d imagine it’s an entry requirement for Germany.

  • Rob says:

    14 Aug14 August 09:26

    Looked like a BA one.

    • Peter says:

      14 Aug14 August 11:51

      I flew a week ago with LH via Germany and at the border control in FRA they asked me for a passport copy of my wife.. haven’t had one – although I had birth certificate and written permission – they said it’s OK but next time I should have a copy.
      The requirements are quite complicated and not clear at all, on the way back I was asked to provide UK settled permit to prove I can go to UK – also never heard of this requirement before – and when flying with a child you definitely trigger all the unknown checks.

      • Rob says:

        14 Aug14 August 11:58

        Getting back in to the UK now is a mess if you show an EU passport. The issue is that we now have to cart seven passports around for the four of us when travelling in Europe.

        • ChrisBCN says:

          14 Aug14 August 13:01

          If only there was some kind of alliance we could be part of to remove all this pointless red tape, it would help businesses grow too and maybe even reduce inflation.

        • John says:

          14 Aug14 August 13:41

          It will be worse when the UK ETA comes in

        • Brian P says:

          14 Aug14 August 14:10

          Is there a law saying you must enter the EU on an EU passport (if its not your home nationality/country)? And it doesn’t seem very enforceable..

        • Rob says:

          14 Aug14 August 15:39

          No – but with an EU passport you can use the electronic gates and, even at a desk, it saves a lot of time because there is no stamping of passports and no attempt to count up how many days you’ve spent in the EU. It also saves the ‘third degree’ treatment that single people now get entering the EU on a UK passport where certain countries are taking a hard line in ensuring that they will not be doing any work whilst there (unless they have an EU visa).

        • Bagoly says:

          14 Aug14 August 14:54

          @ Brian P
          E.g. If you have UK and French passports, and enter Germany?
          I have never heard of a law.
          It does start the 90-day rule running, and until ETIAS comes in, that could be problematic if you then cross a Schengen border and return from say Denmark – next time you go to Germany their system has no record of your having left, so you appear to have overstayed.

• cin4 says:

  14 Aug14 August 11:27

  Flew several times alone aged 11 and under. It really isn’t a challenge at all.

  • Bagoly says:

    14 Aug14 August 14:49

    True for most of us here.
    But remember that there are plenty of 40-year olds for whom it is a challenge (especially removing liquids and electronics for the scanner) even thought they do it every year. 🙂

    • Gordon says:

      14 Aug14 August 14:55

      Still had to do that at LGW in June. But not for much longer, hopefully!

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