ID for flying infant?

[dumbo_buddy]

do i need to bring the original birth certificate? or will a copy suffice?

[LittleRoosMommy]

A copy of the baby's birth certificate is fine.

[BigThunderFan]

You won't need anything for a child under 17 according to the TSA. However, as the previous poster mentioned, it's not a bad idea to bring a copy of the birth certificate just in case an age question were to arise.

[forever a child]

You won't need anything for a child under 17 according to the TSA. However, as the previous poster mentioned, it's not a bad idea to bring a copy of the birth certificate just in case an age question were to arise.

My daughter just flew during the holidays. She is 15 and needed a photo id. She had a passport but they would have accepted a school id. Obviously, an infant is a different story though.

[ILive4Disney]

As an FYI....did you know it was illegal to make a copy of a birth certificate? I had no idea and had done it for years with sports registrations and what not... until I tried to get the free day admission for my daughters birthday...the CM who yelled at me for doing it said she shouldn't accept it but finally did (come to find out it does say so on the birth certificate).....as a side note a few days later at a different part when I did it for my other DD (I also had a copy) that CM...didn't say a word. Some people are just party-poopers I guess. :party:

[Tick-Tock]

You won't need anything for a child under 17 according to the TSA. However, as the previous poster mentioned, it's not a bad idea to bring a copy of the birth certificate just in case an age question were to arise.

Sometimes the airlines check to make sure the child qualifies as a lap baby, if you haven't bought a separate seat.

[Disney4us2]

I flew with my DD 2 times when she was a baby. Both times I purchased a seat (1/2 price). Both flights were long and I didn't want to hold for for a 5 hour flight. I didn't need any info or ID. That was quite a while ago though (she is now 10:)). Not sure what the requirements are these days though, Have a great trip:mickey:

[Rekenna]

We went in October 2008, with DS9, DS2 and DS1-and had no ID for any of them, and had no problems.

However, I will say it is always a good idea to be on the safe side. With the Homeland Security debacles you never know what could happen-if something happened when you were in the air and your plane was diverted it is always a good idea to have ID. This is why I made it one of my resolutions for our whole family to get passports this year for flying-no matter where we are going. Just in case.

I wouldn't worry about it-you shouldn't have any issues getting the baby on and off the plane. But having ID (ie, Birth Certificate) is never a bad idea. I just got copies online from Vital Statistics so we all have the detailed copy. It was only $10 in KY plus $9 for processing.

No worries-have fun!:mickey:

[wdwnutz]

Bring the birth certificate!!!!! After our experience, we do not leave home with out it! And our 16 year old always has her school ID with her. When my son was 15 months old we flew SW out of Philly to Orlando. I did not pay for a seat as he was a lap child. When we checked in at the counter in Philly the lady who was working there did not believe that he was 15 months old and he is of average size for age, not chubby or tall. (He was sleeping in his stroller though.) She asked if we had proof of his age and at the time I did not know I needed his birth certificate. (we flew twice prior to this and were never asked) Since we lived over an hour away and it was impossible to return home to get it, she made me call his pediatrician for them to fax a copy of his immunization record that had his date of birth on it! In the meantime we stood at the couter for at least 45 minutes waiting for this fax to come through while she waited on other customers and took her good old time checking for it while we the four of us waited with 4 suitcases and a stroller at the counter. When she finally got the fax and realized we were not lieing about his age, she finally let us head up to to gate with no apology. We almost missed our flight even though we were at check in at exactly 2 hours before our flight.

[SteveL]

We must have had the same lady at SW.
In May we flew from PHL, Our grandson was 14 months old and SW required proof of his age.
She let them fly down , we had to have some proof for the return flight.
Why, I don't know, since it was obvious that Stephen was nowhere near two.
Since it was a family trip there was nobody to retrieve a birth certificate at the house so they had their pediatrician fax down a record of his immunizations to keep SW happy.

[Genie1953]

We must have had the same lady at SW.
In May we flew from PHL, Our grandson was 14 months old and SW required proof of his age.
She let them fly down , we had to have some proof for the return flight.
Why, I don't know, since it was obvious that Stephen was nowhere near two.
Since it was a family trip there was nobody to retrieve a birth certificate at the house so they had their pediatrician fax down a record of his immunizations to keep SW happy.

It is a shame that you have to provide proof now but I would imagine that there are people out there that have tried to pull one over on the airlines. We never flew when our children were young but I can tell you that when our son was 2 years old he could have easily passed for a 1 year old or younger....he wore size 9 and 12 months size clothes......not a premie and not sickly.....just very small.

[dumbo_buddy]

Bring the birth certificate!!!!! After our experience, we do not leave home with out it! And our 16 year old always has her school ID with her. When my son was 15 months old we flew SW out of Philly to Orlando. I did not pay for a seat as he was a lap child. When we checked in at the counter in Philly the lady who was working there did not believe that he was 15 months old and he is of average size for age, not chubby or tall. (He was sleeping in his stroller though.) She asked if we had proof of his age and at the time I did not know I needed his birth certificate. (we flew twice prior to this and were never asked) Since we lived over an hour away and it was impossible to return home to get it, she made me call his pediatrician for them to fax a copy of his immunization record that had his date of birth on it! In the meantime we stood at the couter for at least 45 minutes waiting for this fax to come through while she waited on other customers and took her good old time checking for it while we the four of us waited with 4 suitcases and a stroller at the counter. When she finally got the fax and realized we were not lieing about his age, she finally let us head up to to gate with no apology. We almost missed our flight even though we were at check in at exactly 2 hours before our flight.

ugh, what a jerk. i am going to bring his original birth certificate. better safe than sorry. i will be sure to report back on whether or not i needed it!

[wdwnutz]

We must have had the same lady at SW.
In May we flew from PHL, Our grandson was 14 months old and SW required proof of his age.
She let them fly down , we had to have some proof for the return flight.
Why, I don't know, since it was obvious that Stephen was nowhere near two.
Since it was a family trip there was nobody to retrieve a birth certificate at the house so they had their pediatrician fax down a record of his immunizations to keep SW happy.

And I thought this lady was just having a bad day! I was just amazed when she told us to call our pediatrician. The doctor's office thought I was nuts when I explained to her our situation!

[Mammabruski]

When my son was 15 months old we flew SW out of Philly to Orlando.


In May we flew from PHL, Our grandson was 14 months old and SW required proof of his age


We fly with Southwest on occasion (just booked tickets for a trip in March), and I have a little insight about this situation.

When booking online there is no place to add a lap baby. You have to call and add the child. Everytime I've done this, the customer service agent made it very clear that we needed to provide a birth certificate for my lap children at check-in. They provide a special boarding document for that child. Its just their policy.

It seems to me that the customer service agent must have forgetten to mention this when you called to add your lap baby.

Or maybe you just added the child at the airport, and didn't know they had this policy.

Tricky stuff. Either way, I hope your stories help others avoid this situation!

[wdwnutz]

Actually our travel agent at AAA booked our flights and it was noted that our son was a lap child. (although she said we didn't need his birth certicate because she noted this on the reservation) This is why I was so confused why SW was giving us a hard time. Oh well, at least we learned our lesson and never had the problem again.

[mudpuppysmom]

I've lived and learned on this one.

I gave absolutely NO thought to taking a birth cert with us the first time we took our youngest at 6 months old......our older DS never needed one, but then again we started flying with him at 3 yrs old and he occupied a seat.

Story is......on the way down everything was fine. On the return trip home they were going to not let me bring DS2 home with me without a birth cert to prove he was MY child! The woman at the SW gate counter (yeah, we made it thru TSA) said how was she to know where this child came from! I ended up fine but I was reprimanded severely for not having proof!

Now we take documentation for both kids with us all the time!

[Emme&TeddysMommy]

We always travel with both the kid’s birth certificates and passports, due to running into questions about the ages of my children. When my DS was 1, we had a slight incident with the TSA check point. We made it though the check of documents and ½ way through x-ray machine, when I came out on the other side TSA agent began to yell at me. So I stopped he wanted proof that my son was only 1. He kept accusing me that my son was much older. I know that my son is tall for his age but come on, I have already made it through the ticket counter, document check point and though x-ray and now you’re going to make an issue. So I very nicely gave him my child’s passport and he said he needed more proof because the picture was not “dead on”. His passport was taken when he was 6 weeks old and it was about a year later he still looked the same just bigger. I now gave him my son’s birth certificate and he told me I was lucky that I had both. I figured a passport was better because it has a photo a birth certificate has no photo. So go figure it wasn’t good enough.