So my wife will be traveling southwest airlines on Monday and the person on the phone told her she needs proof of age for our one year old but we are out of town and don’t have any records on us.
So my question is have any of you ever traveled with infant in arms without proof of age and did you have any problems doing so.
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My son and daughter-in-law recently flew to the east coast with their 2 and 1 year olds. They absolutely were required to show proof of age to board with the children. They were told clearly that this would be a requirement when they made their reservations.
I think you or ýour wife should phone the airline and explain your plight. They may have a suggestion for you.
Just make a fake birth certificate, not the actual legal document, but the piece of paper the hospital gives you when you leave. I always thought it was funny how much that little document could do. It barely even tried to look official, more like a kindergarten graduation certificate, but it allowed me to add my kids to my insurance and a few other things. I don’t think we even saw an official Certificate of Live Birth for the first six months the kid was alive.
The airlines have the right to ask for it. But we have flown regularly with our kids even under the age of 2 when they were in our laps and were never asked for proof of age.
If it is obvious that your child is under 2 they are not likely to ask you. If he could possibly pass for a 3 year old, you may be asked.
I would think trying to fake a birth certificate would be a really bad idea. Instead, I’d just try telling the truth to the airline rep (you’re out of town and didn’t bring the birth certificate with you). Surely this happens from time to time.
We used to fly with our kids when they were under two and I don’t recall a time when we were required to prove it, though we’d generally keep a copy of their birth certificate on us anyway as a precaution.
I agree you should call the airline and let them know your dilemma. Faking a document like that is really risky, and if you’re caught not only could your wife not be permitted to board the plane, I’m assuming that doing so could result in additional fines and also a really substantial amount of inconvenience at security if they ask for it there (thinking along the lines of getting detailed there, having to explain what happened, proof of citizenship, etc.).
At least in my jurisdiction, the piece of paper you get at the hospital with the foot prints on it is a completely fake document to begin with. The real documents are sent to you by the county later. The problem is that the county takes forever to send you any official documents. So for the first year of the kids life you have nothing that says that the kid is actually/officially yours.
This creates a bit of a loophole where people will accept just about anything to be a “birth certificate” for the first year because the ceremonial certificate is all people have.
On top of that, the hospitals want to limit their cost and potential liability as best they can so their ceremonial certificates are looking less and less official. At least with my kids, they didn’t have gold stars, or fake notary seals or even real signatures. The nurse brought in a stack of them preprinted so that we could try the footprints a couple of times and the ones we didn’t use got tossed.
As long as the OP doesn’t lie. Walking in with a piece of nice cardstock with a nice font that says: Birth Certificate,
Certifies that ____________________gender was born at __________________________ to ______________________________and ____________________________on _________________________at ___________________ would be better then anything I got with my kids.
Drewder are you able to fax her the birth certificate, or scan it and email it? Second option, have the pediatrician write a letter stating the child’s age and fax or email it to your wife. She can show it to the agent on her phone if needed.
I can say that I travelled frequently with my kids when they were that age and was never asked to provide this. Different airlines have different policies, however.
No we’re traveling together, she has to return early so she’s flying back with our youngest, the rest of us are driving back.
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My wife and I have flown many times with our son and were never asked for proof of age.
He was under one year old, so there’s really no chance that anyone who has ever seen a two-year-old could mistake him for two. Maybe it matters more if your kids are close to the “need to buy a ticket” age?
I do keep photographs of all our passports and his birth cert in my phone, so I’d have them if necessary. Not a bad idea when traveling.
Can the pediatrician email a letter to you?