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

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• Ruralite says:

  14 Aug14 August 13:01

  Our son (now mid 20s) flew regularly on his own from age 15 and, like your daughter, was an experienced flyer by that age anyway. We always gave him a permission letter signed by both of us with photo copies of our passports in case of any issues but he never needed them. The only time he ever got quizzed was after flying UK – UAE – UK – Russia – UK one xmas/new year age 17. He was at a UK boarding school at the time and the border control officer on his return to the UK wanted to know why he was late back for the start of the new school term and who had allowed him to be late back! Term start at boarding school was later than state schools which he explained and he was sent on his way – no interest at all about why he’d been to Russia on his own (staying with a school friend).

  • Rhys says:

    14 Aug14 August 14:26

    Might raise more eyebrows in 2023!

• BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

  14 Aug14 August 13:07

  All sorts of rules out there.

  Germany requires that you sign your passport. Was ok when signature was included in the passport but now it’s not so you must sign. I remember some posts on flyer talk where people were refused entry and weren’t allowed to just sign it there and the n.

  Few months ago I was at JFK and a flight to Canada was departing and there were announcements about making sure your passport was signed as apparently it’s a Canadian legal requirement.

  • Derek says:

    14 Aug14 August 13:26

    I had to go and check my passports. I don’t remember signing my Canadian passport, but yes it’s there on page 3. But my British passport is signed, too, albeit from a separate signature that’s incorporated into the passport. My wife’s Canadian passport (a year older than mine) has the same, mine does not.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      15 Aug15 August 10:02

      It changes.

      My 1990-2000 passport I had to wet sign
      My 2000-2010 passport it’s printed on the photo page
      Ditto my 2010-2020 one
      My 2020-2030 one required my to wet sign

      Based on international rules so can vary from time to time

  • Roy says:

    14 Aug14 August 13:27

    When I collected my passport from the passport office a couple of years ago (after an online premium application) they were very clear that I had to sign the passport before using it.

    I don’t think the requirement is new, although for many years they printed the signature during the production process, based on the signature on the paper application form. Of course, now they discourage using paper forms, so we’re back to signing the passport on receipt.

    • Rob says:

      14 Aug14 August 15:40

      BA now announces over the tannoy on flights into Germany that your passport must be signed, or else.

      • Gordon says:

        14 Aug14 August 16:24

        “must be signed, or else” Is this tannoy announcement in the voice of “Herr Otto Flick” from Allo Allo by any chance!

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

          15 Aug15 August 10:02

          More like Sharron from Hounslow.

  • David says:

    14 Aug14 August 22:22

    As for all my debit or credit cards, I have never signed any of them. Nobody has ever checked.

    • Martin says:

      16 Aug16 August 07:25

      My newest debit card doesn’t even have a signature strip.

  • SamG says:

    15 Aug15 August 12:01

    I had a slightly weird experience flying LHR-JFK the other day, I couldn’t use the kiosk to pass the passport check so had to go to a human. She asked if I’d signed the passport myself (yes obviously) and then seemed quite surprised I’d done that! Red 2019 one.

• Derek says:

  14 Aug14 August 13:14

  “as her BAEC number was in the booking British Airways knew exactly how old she was”

  My first thought was that given that BAEC is not strictly BA I’m not sure they have the legal right to exchange that information.

  But… it’s an international flight! You had to give them passport info, whether she was a BAEC member or not. And sharing that info from BAEC is definitely agreed the first time you make a booking. So, yes. It’s actually BA’s screwup–when they say you “can’t” make that booking online they need to ensure that it’s physically impossible.

• David says:

  14 Aug14 August 16:22

  Now you need a signed letter of consent from the other parent if you take your child to the USA with just you – so what happens if they travel alone ?

• Site is says:

  14 Aug14 August 17:29

  Why, why why. I bet if something happened to your unaccompanied MINOR hlchild you would be the first to complain. But it seems to be a site of boasting people who travelled alone. Of course there is no risk of travelling on airlines like you would gey walking the streets on your own.

  • Rob says:

    14 Aug14 August 18:20

    You’ll find the 2023 ’15 year old girl’ model, especially the one available in Central London, has many additional safety features and sensors built in which didn’t exist on earlier versions and tend to ensure safety in even the most hazardous of conditions.

    • Gordon says:

      14 Aug14 August 18:31

      I concur, our 14.5 year old granddaughter stays with us regularly, and she is one of the 2023 models, I would not like to get on the wrong side of her!

• Bonglim says:

  15 Aug15 August 01:39

  Slightly off topic – but many years ago I travelled with my brothers, aged 7, 11, 13 on a flight to USA to visit relatives. My parents, not that well off, had to make it as cheap as possible, so we flew 3 legs to our destination – and it was the best trip ever.

  Flight 1 – my brother was messing with the oxygen mask holder after I told limit was a ‘special drinks holder’, managed to pull it fully open and a few people around freaked out thinking it was a disaster. Captain had to be called to ‘fix it’ with making tape.

  Flight 2 – the entire cabin was a travelling teenager band. We had a massive pillow flight lasting the entire 2 hours.

  no such drama on flight 3….. but while under the care of the airport staff before flight 3 we were being driven around in a golf-cart style buggy. The carer went to the toilet and we ‘stole’ the buggy and spent 30 minutes just driving it around the airport until someone stopped us.

  I feel sorry that the current generation are never going to be able to have as much fun as we had. Apologies to the airline staff, at least one of which might have thought they were going to be fired when they lost us in Detroit airport.

• Keith says:

  15 Aug15 August 12:57

  Currently at Schiphol. Some poor chap struggling to get through passport control with his 17 year old son. Apparently, unless if you are travelling with a child alone, you need a consent form from the other parent. Another perfect example of stupid thinking. A bit like the robot plate collectors in the KLM lounge. Totally inefficient. Though fun to watch them scare and amuse children. And big children like me.

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