3 kids fly alone to BNA...

As crazy as it sounds, at the airport I was working at for the airlines, we could put a "SSSS" stamp on a person's boarding pass if they had an expired I.D., or had no I.D., and TSA would allow the people through with a little extra pat down. It happens probably more than people think, unfortunately.
 
My kids have never had trouble with security. They have always had school ID's (even though they don't have an age on them).

However, buying a ticket at the airport? With cash? I would like to think that would have tossed up a red flag or two...
 
ChrisH said:
As crazy as it sounds, at the airport I was working at for the airlines, we could put a "SSSS" stamp on a person's boarding pass if they had an expired I.D., or had no I.D., and TSA would allow the people through with a little extra pat down. It happens probably more than people think, unfortunately.
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I lost my wallet out of town a few years ago. What are they going to do? Not let you go home?
 
If a pax buys a one way ticket and cash we have to stamp the boarding pass "ssss" and they get the extra patdown, regardless of id or not.
 
That is nuts. When I worked the ticket counter, I don't think I'd issue these kids tickets just because they had cash. Where's the ethics here? 3 kids, each 15 and under, buying a one-way ticket with cash? Especially with no Ids?? They could all say they were John and Jane Smith and just walk through. What if they were running away from home? Mad at their parents? I know it could be anything, but come on people.. where's the common sense these days..
 
You can get a state ID card (non drivers license) at any age. I had one when I was 11 back when you didn't need a passport to leave the country. ID + Birth Cert worked.
 
z987k said:
You can get a state ID card (non drivers license) at any age. I had one when I was 11 back when you didn't need a passport to leave the country. ID + Birth Cert worked.
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Roger said:
Pretty sure you can get a passport under 16...
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Passport would work (if the kids had them), and I'd forgotten about state IDs, I didn't know states still issued those!

Still wonder why it didn't raise flags to the selling ticket agent though... 3 kids traveling alone, buying their own tickets with no adults in sight.

Crazy. My kids ever do something like that they'll be grounded for a month.
 
The TSA agents don't require ID under 18, So all they had to do was buy the ticket and walk up to the Screener and hand them their passes.. Trust me.. i see it almost every day
 
Slightly related story about the TSA and kids...

A year or two ago, I saw a TSA guy refuse to let a 10 year old kid into screening because his boarding pass had "Jamie" while his passport said "James"... as was pointed out earlier in the thread, ID was not needed at all. He was with his parents, by the way, and the way they were treated nearly gave the mom a panic attack.
 
How old do you have to be now to not be considered a UM? 16 now? I remember when I turned 12 I was no longer considered a minor back then. This was in the mid 90's. I'm not sure how old I was (maybe 14), but later my dad would trust me enough to just drop me and my sister off at the curb and we'd go in ourselves. I though it was great.

Who knows what the 15 year old looked like, but she probably looked a bit older so the agent who sold her the ticket probably didn't question it. Obviously someone screwed up in not asking for ID anywhere, but I can definitely see it happen, even if they did have an ID.
 
sopdan said:
Slightly related story about the TSA and kids...

A year or two ago, I saw a TSA guy refuse to let a 10 year old kid into screening because his boarding pass had "Jamie" while his passport said "James"... as was pointed out earlier in the thread, ID was not needed at all. He was with his parents, by the way, and the way they were treated nearly gave the mom a panic attack.
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Some Screeners really make the rest of the workforce look bad, we're not all idiots... i promise
 
I'm no fan of the TSA, but I'm certainly not crazy enough to think there's any alternative! ;)
 
Well, consider the fact that if the kids had used a credit card (stolen or borrowed their parents) they might never have interfaced with a ticket agent at all, especially if they weren't checking any baggage. The last few times I traveled, I interfaced with a ticket agent only so they could stick me with my $25 per bag fee. Other than that, they did nothing - not even crowd control, which the Delta counter at SEA really needs badly.
 
I took my ex's grandmother to visit her son in the county jail once and she was admitted through security with her bingo ID.
 
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