BA Holidays - minor as sole traveller?
 

BA Holidays bookings state that all travellers must be adults.

If I book a flight + car/hotel package for a 16yo relative, never intending to use the car/hotel, would there realistically be any issue with the child taking the flights?

Thanks!

Bumping this. Anyone have any experience?

It would necessitate “making a typo” on the date of birth during the booking. Could that simply be corrected during check in? Or would the flight component somehow flag up as being only valid for someone 18+ ?

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I don't like these kind of risks... even more since it's not a mistake in the booking, but done on purpose.

Do you know why it states that? Surely BA Holidays includes holidays for kids so it can’t be a blanket ban. Is there something about your selection which is triggering the restriction?

BAH terms don’t state that all passengers must be adults. They state

I read the OP before it was edited, the situation is a little more convoluted than it now reads, but I will leave it to the OP to decide if they wish to disclose that.

OP - there is unlikely to be any issue per se with taking the flight and not using the hotel, if you can get BAH to accept the booking in your situation.

I don't think any of the BA holidays can be booked without an adult aged 18+ in the booking.

If I were the OP, I'd call BA holiday again and ask if they would be able to book with only the child flying but the room for two people including the adults. It might (or might not) resolve the problem.

PS: I think it is unwise of the OP to have edited his OP as mentioned by Oaxaca. I think it now misses some crucial information which I too read and which may lead people to give advice that would be right for the new text but wrong for the OP's situation.

I can’t recall what the original post said but didn’t realise it would be *only* the under-18 travelling (maybe it was clear and I just misread).

In any case my guess it would probably work for the flights but not something I’d necessarily want to try.

this is exactly the problem with the edit- it won’t be only an under 18 travelling but the over 18 will be on a separate flight only booking

The original OP said something about could they book a 'holiday' for the 16 year old and would the OP as an adult (and on a separate flight only booking) be able to check into the room - because they actually needed the room and not as a ploy to simply reduce the price - thus meeting the need to have someone over 18 in the room.


OP has not helped themselves to get accurate answers by changing the entire premise of the post.

Thanks for the feedback. After a couple of days, my original post had numerous views but no responses - I concluded that the lengthy post and complex situation were behind this.

Having now made alternative accommodation plans, I only need to understand if it would be possible to use the flight element of a BAH booking (for a minor, the sole passenger on that booking), and sacrifice/abandon the room element. My edited post seeks to simplify and clarify this as it is now the crux of my question.

Can I make a BAH flight+hotel package for a minor, fudge the year of birth to process the booking, and have them present themselves at checkin assuming the agent will just swipe their passport and update the DOB (with no intention of using the hotel element of the package). I can't imagine that the flight booking would have any age 'tag' on it, and that taking the flights by themselves would be fine, but I want to know if anyone has experience of doing this (since we know that BAH bookings can be cheaper than flight only bookings, I am sure some enterprising soul has tried it!)

Thanks!

Thanks

My guess is that what might lead to trouble here is not the under-18 traveller flying, or even staying (or not) in the bundled hotel, reducing the price. But showing up for check-in, with age under legal driving to get yet another bundle reduction of ticket price, by having a car reserved, for a single traveller not of driving age, would have more than one warning bell chiming.

My advice: Don't expose your kid to this risk/hassle

Don’t ‘fudge’ anything.... Have you actually spoken to BA Holidays?

That would be my advice too. How will you feel if a 17 year old end up facing worrying problems at the airport because of something you effectively chose to do? As mentioned in my earlier post, I'd personally call the BA holiday team and ask if changing the booking to include the minor's flight only but a room for you both would solve the problem and if not ask them what they suggest. They are generally competent and helpful, and frankly, creating unnecessary potential trouble for a minor unlikely to be best equipped (either technically or emotionally) to deal with them is not the best course of action in my view.

Thanks everyone for the frank opinions.

Yes, I have spoken to BAH, they won't budge and say "not allowed"

The minor wouldn't be alone, I am travelling on the same flights on a separate flight only booking.

I'm exploring this option since the alternative will cost me an additional ~£1300

Still interested to know if anyone has actual experience of doing this, thanks (and Merry Christmas!)

The issue isn't the flight - over 12's can fly on their own - but as you've seen it's the hotel element - and being able to book it - that is the restriction.

Have people bought a holiday and not used the car or hotel element then yes but the examples we see on here involve adults so the booking meets the restrictions (there may be <18s on the booking but that's not the same as what you want to do).

BAH won't knowingly do a booking that they know does not meet the hotel requirements.