Grandparent traveing with child-passport requirements???

My entire family is traveling to E"Y for Succos BE"H. My parents, who will have 2 of my younger sibs with them, have generously offered to take one of our kids with them on their flight, to make things easier for DH and I (4 people to watch 1 kid over 10 hrs, vs 2 people to watch 3 over to hrs!). We are leaving from the same city, but have stop overs in different countries, and arrive at around the same time in Tel Aviv. I am really thankful for this, because it will make stuff so much easier on the plane with 2 kids rather than 3!!! OMG!!
But I am nervous about the restrictions of traveling internationally with someone else's child. I mean - are there any? If my daughter's last name is Cohen, and my maiden name is Levi (so my parents are the Levis), will they think Mr and Mrs Levi are trying to kidnap this kid with a different last name? Do we need any kind of letter sent along with them "authorizing" them to transport our daughter if that makes any sense? I called the airline and they said not to their knowledge, but I dont want my parents to get stuck in Paris en route to Israel or anything like that because customs wont let them go!!
does anyone know?
thanks in advance.

Active Poster Joined: Jul 24 2009 Posts: 73

I think you may need a letter of consent.

I also think BOTH of you need to sign a consent letter to let a minor child travel without parents. Although noone has asked us so far on several occasions when we split the family.

There are many sample forms, you can probably find them on google. Basic information you need to include would be the child's name, DOB, passport info (issuing country, number), the grandparents names, passport info, flight info and of course the fact both parents agree for the child to be flying.

http://www.globetrektravel.com/minortravelforms.pdf (this one requires notary public, somewhat more formal).

Enjoy Succot in E'Y--it's my most favourite time to visit there.

thank you very much mrs bissli! that is exactly what I wanted!

Posted: Wed, Sep 02 2009, 1:38 am Post subject:

I always write a letter specifically stating that we give permission. In your case, I would include the information that you are also flying and will meet them on the other end; include your flight numbers and stopover information so that they can page you if necessary.
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I wouldn't worry to much about it - and frankly, unless a letter of consent is notarized, it could just be something the would-be kidnappers typed themselves. Story of reassurance:

I once arrived in the US coming from Australia with DS who was 6 months old at the time.
I was travelling on a US passport that was still in my maiden name, and I have pale skin, blue eyes, and a shaitel was once light brown but had gone reddish-blond from the strong sun here.
My baby was travelling on an Australian passport, with my married name as his last name, and he has dark skin, dark brown eyes, and dark brown almost black hair.
So nothing matched - not our name, nationality, skin, eyes, or hair. And as he was an infant, that makes it even more suspect.
All that happened is they asked me "Ma'am, is this your baby" to which I answered, "If he wasn't my baby, do you think I would have dragged him here from Australia?!" and they smiled and let me through without any delay.

Posted: Wed, Sep 02 2009, 2:02 am Post subject:

Yet, when I travelled from Israel to Canada without my DH, even though I was with 2 under 2 and their names & passports matched mine, I was still asked for proof that I could bring them over the border. The letter I had was not notarized, and it was fine. If you put in enough details (passport numbers, contact info for yourself, etc) it's not likely someone else wrote it. And yes, the authorities ARE asking.

Thanks for the infos... my parents are also going to Israel with my dd soon, and I wondered about it!
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Posted: Thu, Sep 03 2009, 1:53 am Post subject:

Posted: Thu, Sep 03 2009, 2:51 am Post subject:

Posted: Thu, Sep 03 2009, 3:09 am Post subject:

marion, I just traveled to america by myself with my daughter and was not asked anything in terms of my daughter.

could it be cananda and not america?

Posted: Thu, Sep 03 2009, 3:26 am Post subject:

It could be...but the American authorities state that they require it as well. Why wouldn't you take a letter if it could save you all that hassle? It takes 5 minutes to write it and another 30 seconds for DH to sign it.

Posted: Thu, Sep 03 2009, 3:29 am Post subject:

I have traveled to and from the US with my dd alone and my sil took various kids of mine (same last name) to the US and to Europe, and we never even thought about it. Also, no one asked any questions. Kids were around 6 and up. Does this make a difference? What ages are we talking about here?
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Posted: Thu, Sep 03 2009, 7:21 am Post subject:

I wouldn't risk it. Like I said, it's so much easier to just take 10 minutes to do it; it's not something that REQUIRES a notary or a witness.

When we went to the U.S. 15 years ago (Toronto to NY) for my cousin's wedding it was me & my 2 sisters; I was 16, sis#1 was 12, and sis#2 was 5. We were travelling on Canadian birth certificates (didn't need passports at the time). My father was not travelling with us as he was going to Montreal for a levaya. (Aside: it was supposed to be just me & my mom, but because of the levaya my sisters had to come with us.) The American Immigration officer in Pearson airport (Toronto) wanted to know if my mom had a letter from my dad allowing her to take us across the border. It had never crossed her mind (or my dad's a Family Law specialist!) that she would need such a thing, and yes, it took a few minutes to sort things out before we were allowed across the "border".

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 29 2007 Posts: 12058

I live near a US/Canadian land border. Every time I crossed (before I changed my name on my passport), I was asked if these were my children & I had to show my marriage license. And this was in both directions, with my DH in the car.

I get asked every time I travel out of the country. My name and nationality does not match those of my children, and their passport doesn't say who their parents are. I take them out of "their" country, so I get asked to "prove" that I'm their mother.