Again, is BA entitled to treat check-in as "joint". Can't find any reference on their CsOC.

Of course, the original error was mine - I don't shirk from that. But, could it not be that BA also made an error, in not checking in someone who had properly presented for check-in?

Cheers

From where does the duty upon me arise, to ask for a group checking into be "split"?

Does BA not have a duty to check in all persons properly presenting to check-in? If they intend not to check in one (or more) persons in a group due to a documentary lapse of another member, is the onus not on them to obtain consent for this?

Thanks very much, sailor! :)

Cheers

BTP, are you a lawyer? I'm pretty certain that Tobias UK is so suspect you got a free legal opinion here. Whilst I realise that you made a mistake and have admitted that, I get the feeling you are fishing for someone to tell you what you want to hear and I suspect you are going to be disappointed.

The way I would see it is if you presented yourselves for check in as a group, then a problem with one member of the group halts checkin for the whole group.

If the group wanted to split and some members proceed without others then the obligation is on those members who wish to proceed with checkin to inform the staff of that (before checkin closes)

If BA policy were to automatically proceed with checkin for all members of a group except the one (or more) with a problem then they would be putting pressure on the group to split and abandon the one (or more) with a problem. In OPs case it would have meant BA implicitly telling him to abandon his son.

Hi Mike, no I am not a lawyer but contracts (and sometimes disputes) is a substantial part of my job. Just really interested in the debate & what other people think, it's always good to get other people's perspectives on a situation which has affected you, hopefully others can learn stuff (I have!) on common travel area, different airlines ID rules, etc. etc.

Cheers

Could a U.K.- or ROI-born citizen resident in a third country show a third country issued photo ID or driving licence and no passport?

Fair comments and thanks for coming back.

Only if the third country photo ID confirmed the nationality as being ROI or UK citizen, else a passport is required.

I was wondering about that... I traveled to DUB from LCY on a French passport and had to go through immigration upon landing (we all did, it wasn't just because of my passport), but on the way back there was an ID check at boarding, an then we landed as a domestic flight in LCY. I thought it was a bit weird.

Also, inside of the EU, an ID card is sufficient, but you can't use the e-gates so I carry my passport everywhere now.

Oh I considered that argument, and rejected it. Perhaps you should consider the evidence dispassionately? You presented yourself at check-in purporting to be the father of the child but provided no evidence of that fact.You were unable to provide any evidence to the check-in agent that the child was either a British or Irish citizen and thus able to enjoy the travel provisions under the CTA.

According to your own account of the situation you never once indicated to the check-in agent that you would be prepared to travel without the child. No person (when applying the 'reasonable person' test) would even contemplate that a parent would leave (abandon?) a child at an airport so they could take a flight in the situation you present to us.

If you genuinely intended to travel without the child then you should have advised the check-in agent of your intent you would have been given a boarding pass. In such a situation (when applying the 'reasonable person' test) you would have advised the check-in agent that you would have the child collected by a relative or friend before passing through airport security. You did not do any of that, that was your choice, that was your decision, that was your mistake. At the end of the day everything that prevented you from travelling was because of you, because of your mistakes. You screwed up here, not the check-in staff and in my view, and for the reasons above, what occurred falls outside EC261.

As a non ROI/UK citizen, the ID check required you to have a passport. Has you been a ROI/UK citizen, then you would have required an ID that is acceptable to the airline to confirm that you are who you say you are and a nationality that allows you to travel between the two states without a passport. I still just use a passport though personally.

WRT travel within the EU as you call it, you actually mean within the Schengen area. This is a separate scheme amongst some but by no means not all EU states (26 out of 28 countries).

Yes I am sure that would be the most tempting view for the Court to take, especially if invited to by BA's lawyers.

Given that there is very little appetite for my arguments here, I suspect that would be replicated in a Court and I won't take this any further. But I hope this thread has been interesting for reasons I wrote above (CTA, different airlines ID rules, etc.). And this has been a good lesson to me to check which passports I am putting in my bag before leaving home! (Look forward to the new blue UK ones - then at least my son's and wife's will be different colours!

Thanks all for sharing insights.

Simple fact is that yours is a joint booking, therefore it is reasonable for a reasonable person to assume that the whole party wants to be together. This assumption is further enforced by the fact that one of the party is a minor with no obvious care if the other and only adult in the booking left on the flight. You did not offer up the fact that you can arrange for alternative childcare in time. Therefore the agent can only assume what will happen if you were let onboard based on available facts at that time. No further communication required and certainly no need for "out of the box" thinking of issuing you with a BP but you not boarding.

As I said, best to take them to court and see what the court says. I am assuming that many here will also like to know, so do keep us updated.

OK that makes sense.

No actually national ID cards were enough for EU travel since before Schengen even existed. And until they installed e-gates, I've frequently been back and forth between France and the UK on a just my ID because it was easier to carry (in fact I didn't even have a passport for the my first 4 years here).