Children & Airports & Lack of Identification

May 24, 2023

Children & Airports & Lack of Identification

This topic really has me thinking. Really. has me thinking.

Have you ever flown (domestically) with your children? If you are like me, you overthink and over prepare everything. We've flow with our kids a few times, and I don't know why, but I always bring a copy of their birth certificates (before they had passports) in case I had to prove they were my children. This is not in the rules, but I'm scared and anal so I over-prepare.

But - nobody has ever asked to see this information or any form of identify for my kids when traveling (with the exception of international travel).

For those of you with children, or those of you who care in general about children - why are we not absolutely shocked at the lack of proof of identification needed to fly with a child?

Literally. This is shocking.

When we fly, particularly post- 9/11, you know the serious measures we must pass to get through security that were not in place pre- 9/11. Shoes off, belts off, 3-1-1 liquid rules, take out your food, take out electronics bigger than a cell phone, nothing in pockets. If you see something, say something.

Why had it not dawned on me that there are NO minimal protections of children at airports? They simply ask you to verify that the child you say is yours and with you is actually yours and with you. Whatever matches the ticket is ok, no proof needed.

When we went to Arizona (and Florida) with Marisa, I told her to grab her passport because:

1. She's not our child

2. She's from a foreign country and may get questioned

3. She's traveling with people not related to her

4. The fear that WE may get questioned why she's traveling with us

5. I thought she would definitely need to prove who she was

I wanted to be prepared. I don't have a copy of her birth certificate (I don't think - I have many records from the exchange program, but I don't think birth certificate is one).

You guys - they did not ask to see her passport and all we had to do was say she was who she was. No other questions asked.

This is scary.

Isn't child (and people) trafficking a major problem in our country (and the world?)???

Again, NOT getting political at all. Doesn't this seem like a MAJOR safety flaw in our system, at the risk of lack of protection for children? Doesn't this seem like an OBVIOUS area that could prevent human trafficking?

When Marisa travels with her family in Europe, they need passports everywhere they go. Because - DUH! That's logical, makes sense, and you are traveling country to country.

In our case, while we are not traveling country to country if we fly domestic, we ARE traveling long distances because we have a large-butt country. Traveling here state to state is similar to traveling in Europe country to country.

I am in disbelief over this. I'm sure I'll still carry a copy of my children's birth certificates (and passports) every time we travel, but for no reason at all other than my own over-the-top-ness.

I think about this quite a bit and it continues to baffle me.