AIBU to be surprised no one checked my 17yo had permission when travelling abroad without a parent?

[TeenageTravels]

We are British. My 17yo recently travelled abroad to an EU country for a holiday with another family (who live in the UK but are originally from the country they were travelling to). I sent her with a permission letter and provided my and DH's contact details and passport details and a copy of her birth certificate. She wasn't asked for any of this either in the UK or the other country, or any information about who she was travelling with or why. AIBU to be surprised by this? Obviously my daughter was completely safe but is this not a concern for trafficking or other reasons?

No she’s over 16 that’s the limit for most airlines.

Virgin wanted to vet dd2 flying alone to Miami at 16 and one day. A short conversation and they were fine that she wasn’t going to be a problem on a long flight! The system wouldn’t let me do online check in which was fair enough I thought.

DD1 travelled overseas with a friend and her family when she was 17. UK immigration refused to land her (she’s a British Citizen) as she couldn’t prove she hadn’t been to Syria. She’s not Muslim and was dressed in hiking gear as they had been hiking in Turkey. As she was 17 I assumed she wouldn’t need a letter. Immigration detained her for over two hours, refused to contact her Dad, who was meeting her in arrivals, let her use her phone to call him, or speak to her friend’s parents. Eventually they just told her that she could go.

I went to Ibiza at 17 with 3 friends … no one checked on us either.

Just because two countries let them through passport control it doesn't mean they all will!

Things have changed. Also, not sure passport control in some countries would care about your difficulties getting parental permission tbh. They would just not let you in.

7 years ago my 18yo dd went abroad with a friend who I’d assumed was 28 but turned out she was 17

they got stopped coming back in to the uk. Put in separate rooms. Dd says she was questioned on suspicion of child trafficking. The friend didn’t have a letter. Dd said why the hell would she be trafficking an English citizen into the uk and surely they should have stopped them on the way out.

nobody contacted the other girls parents. They just got let out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

all a bit odd.

She can travel independently now

Which countries are these then?

You can fly unacompanied on EasyJet from the age of 16.......

I flew to Europe on my own and back age 17.

I lived to tell the tale.

I did not have a letter of permission.

Two thirds of Scottish students are still 17 when they finish their last year of high school - a gap year at 17, which often involves travelling abroad, really isn't that uncommon.

Not in England. It's no longer possible for 16/17 yo to marry with parental consent, thankfully.

I am not going to look through current advise for specific countries and provide you with a list. I do know people who have had problems though e.g when leaving Portugal.

So there actually aren't any where there's automatic entry refusal for being under 18

And LEAVING Portugal is a bit different from not being allowed in at a border

Why would they check if she’s obviously with another family? Imagine how time consuming that would become if every under-18 travelling with others needed to have checked written permission from parents!

My DS is young for his year and inter-railed with a group of mates post A-levels. He was the only 17 year old and did take a letter permission from us for European youth hostels (as technically he was a child staying in dorms with adults). Not sure it was ever checked though…

I travelled to France at 14 without any adults accompanying me at all! Just got on a coach at London Victoria and travelled all the way to Bordeaux. Then did the return journey three weeks later.

My daughter went to Ibiza with a friend's family at 15 and no one asked for the letter of consent I had written.

A lot of airports have e gates now, so families don’t get their passports checked together. It’s 10 years and older I believe at Stansted. Not sure how this is managed now with regards to trafficking risks

8 year old went through egates by himself at gate de nord

I don't know if anywhere has an automatic entry or exit refusal but a bit stupid to travel anywhere if a country has specifically stated that parental permission may be required for minors to enter or exit.

No one ever checks.

I've regularly been abroad with my son who has a different surname to me, my friends daughter, and my partner who obvs also has a different surname. 4 people, 4 different surnames. Not a batted eyelid to be seen.

That said, your measures around sending the birth certificate and letter are sensible, as you never know!

I went away with my grandmother age 16 and upon return home I was separated from her at border control and interrogated as to why she had legally kidnapped me. I remember being completely dumbfounded at the idea given that she was my grandmother and the fact that I was travelling on an adult passport. IMO once you can get an adult passport then you should be able travel without a letter from parents etc. I could have got married (at the time) or joined the army with no issue, but i was treated appallingly for going on a cruise with my grandmother!

I flew alone from the UK to California at 17 in the late 90s. The airport staff at the other end were more concerned about establishing that I wasn't trying to become an undocumented immigrant.

That was on a child passport, btw, as I didn't get my first passport until I was 14.

How hard is it to type a letter and fi a squiggly signature?

Yes, and I did have to give signed permission for school trips, which I assume the group leader took with them. Not a letter that I wrote but a signed document that the school gave us all to sign. This is standard surely?