levilevi

(Mods - if there's another thread on these issues, please consolidate, couldn't find in the last 5 pages of threads)

I know from experience with our older kid, the first time a kid flies on Southwest (without a ticket), you need to show up and have a check-in agent check their age and enter info into their systems.

This go around, Kid #2 (<1 year old) will be taking his first WN flight, CUN-BWI next week. I called WN reservations and added him to the itinerary under my ticket, paid the minimal International fees, and the phone agent said his passport at CUN check in is all we will need. I pressed on this and he was emphatic that was it.

I seem to recall for my first kid we needed a birth certificate, but that was domestic travel. This WN link only mentions Birth Certificate:
https://www.southwest.com/html/custo...ldren-pol.html
https://www.southwest.com/html/custo...board-pol.html

My hesitation is that this first flight originates at an outstation, CUN in Mexico. We can't check in online (because he doesn't have a RR# nor has he been age-verified yet), so dealing with outstation employees I assume at check-in. I just worry about that situation.

Thoughts? Experience? Will the Passport suffice? Will I need a birth certificate? (I know its only one extra piece of paper to pack/bring, but I'd prefer not to bring originals like that if I dont need to).

Kevin AA

Just a general thought here, but a passport has a DOB and place of birth already in it. Remember when it used to be the case you could cross the land border with the U.S. with just your birth certificate? Now you need a passport. So passport>birth certificate. I can't imagine why one would need both.

LegalTender

If it concerns you - and it would me, too - bring the birth certificate. SWA can speak definitively to their ops, not CUN processing. Given trafficking issues and political stealthiness, more documentation seems a no-brainer.

Sorry I can't offer a personal experience. Hopefully, others can.

levilevi

Both KevinAA and LegalTender have encapsulated my thoughts
KevinAA - I agree with your logic
but...
LegalTender... i'm leaning towards this.

NoStressHere

Sure, take it.

But a passport normally trumps just about any other document.

And, I guess you know all about traveling intl with children with or without both parents.

3Cforme

They wanted a birth certificate for the domestic flight to establish age, that the child was under two and eligible to travel free as a lap infant. The passport notes date of birth.

Often1

Presuming that the child has a US passport, that is definitive proof of date of birth.

If this worries you in the slightest, why would you not travel with his birth certificate as well and, if asked, rather than having a fight, just show the birth certificate?

This seems to be the simple solution and will take a lot less time than you have already invested in the issue.

levilevi

I just chuckled about the time invested in the issue... I mean, what is Flyertalk if not for looking into minutiae of many things

• the WN website specifically says birth cert, not passport, but everyone here, myself included, thinks a passport is the "superior" document... but as we all know, sometimes logic doesn't always trump when dealing with airlines, especially agents at outstations

Anyway.. I have this weird aversion to bringing along documents , especially originals, that I don't need.
I agree, in this case seems silly not to, was just posting to see if anyone had any experience with this situation, or for people to hash it out like we did, so that others down the road can find it.

rsteinmetz70112

It occurs to me that a passport does not have the names of the parents but a Birth Certificate would, proving the parent are legally responsible for the infant.

levilevi

I think in this case, WN is mainly looking for proof the child is <2?
TO be issued a passport, a child needs to have both parents at the passport acceptance facility or have one sign off.

rsteinmetz70112

That's true, but how could Immigration determine if the child was traveling with parents? There have been cases of unauthorized people taking kids across borders without authorization.

levilevi

Update for all (of course, who knows if this was definitive or YMMV), but checking in yesterday at airport counter in CUN, I presented passports only, and that was enough to age-verify (of course I had the birth cert in my bag just in case ). Agent didn't even bat an eyelash.