Accompanied children flying
 

I am travelling with my four children (ages 2-11) on Spirit Airlines from Atlantic City to Tampa. Are there requirements for ID for kids? I hate to bring birth certificates, and obviously they have no other ID. What are requirements for kids travelling with parents?

cdepks....there is a Travel With Children Forum here on FT and I'm going to switch this thread to that Forum. And, in fact, there is a similar thread running in that Forum. You may get a more detailed answer there.
I'll leave this thread visible here on the Travel Safety/Security Forum so that those reading your thread here can answer it in that Forum.
Hope you have a pleasant trip.
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Cholula
Travel Safety/Security Forum Moderator

There are no ID requirements for kids, so leave the Birth Certs at home.

The "belt and suspender" crowd will disagree and say "there's no harm in bringing ID," but in my view, that's just more paper to misplace and perhaps lose on the trip.

Have a great time in Tampa. :)

My wife and I have taken our two kids on a lot of flights over the years. Even when only one of us is traveling with them, we have never been asked for their IDs, birth certs. or anything else (domestically). These things are completely unnecessary domestically.

TSA might ask your kids to say their names, but that's the topic of a different thread.

Are both parents traveling with the kids, or just you? In some cases, if children are traveling with just one parent, the traveling parent may be asked to prove that they have the other parent's permission for the kids to travel. Usually this is only an issue with travel to another country, but I have also been asked for it on 2 domestic trips now.

Out of curiosity, how did you "prove" that the other parent had given permission?

Which airline(s) asked you for this, CDTraveler?

Hmm, interesting. I'd never heard of that. Is it any of their business though?

It seems to be Alaska Airline's favorite question! We get asked going to Seattle, we get asked going to Canada. I carry a letter signed by my husband that I have permission to travel solo with our son, including taking him out of the country. Maybe legally they can't insist on this for domestic flights, but I have been asked, both at check-in and by the gate agent. I prefer to avoid extended arguments, so I carry the letter.

Some countries, wishing not to get in the middle of child custody fights, demand this type of parental permission before allowing in a solo adult w/ minor child - I think Mexico is one, not sure about Canada.

p.s. son and I have different last names, if it matters

Doesn't seem like it'd provide any safeguards since anyone can write a letter and sign any signature they want. How do they make sure it's relly the other parent's name and signature?

Correct. @:-)

It is one thing for the Mexican Immigration personnel to require an authorization but quite another for an airline employee to screw around with such nonsense.

Actually, I was under the impression that airlines were held legally liable if they allowed passengers to board/fly without proper documentation for international travel, so that the airline employees would have reason to request documentation, such as passports, visas, and in some cases, parental permission notes. I know any international flight I've taken, the airlines ask for my passport long before I hit immigration.

Yes, but asking for a passenger's passport is different to asking for a permission slip for every child travelling with one parent that can't even be verified. What's to stop someone saying that they're a sole parent even if they didn't go through the trouble of forging a note?
I just think it's another silly step that achieves no purpose other than giving people an extra something to do.

For travel to Mexico, you are required to have a notarized letter if only one parent is traveling with a child under 18 years of age. Even though Mexican Immigration rarely asks for the letter, it is well within the rights of an airline to deny boarding if passengers don't have the letter.

I think the notarized letter requirement makes sense for international travel. Forging a signature is one thing, but most people know that if they obtain a notarization via fraud, they are committing a significant crime.