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?

Where do the rules say that? And who has hundreds of £ for solicitors for a weekend away.

Well that's because they have a forces exemption.

But they are still 17

We took my son's 15 year old girlfriend to America with us no one questioned us at all until we came come and then all they asked was how she knew us! It's actually a bit worrying if I'm honest.

My DS has booked flights and travelled alone a few times from 16 onwards. No reason to check a 17 year old. some airlines insist on being 18 to book but some are fine with 16.

your child is 17 not 7. Stop babying them

When my daughter went to Europe with a school group at 16, we had to have notarized permission documents written in the language of some of the destination countries, but not others. Austria in particular was very rigorous in the documentation we had to provide.

Uk government travel advice. Look it up.

17 year olds can have finished school so would be strange for them to not be able to travel alone. Some will be travelling to uni, job interviews etc let alone holidays and gap years. I went on a post a level holiday at 17.

They do check, I was stopped multiple times as a single parent travelling without the father. Not everyone is stopped but it really does happen. Although at 17, as PPs have said, they're old enough to travel alone anyway.

I wish people would stop with this, our laws and duty of care to young people have been extended. A 17 year old couldn't rent a property now without a parent or LA as guarantor.

@JaneJaneAnne in Scotland ypur parents still have a duty of care towards you, or the LA does. While you can move out without permission, if you are in a dangerous situation, the police can remove you from it.
To keep up with, modern day slavery, sex trafficking, grooming of all kinds, radicalisation and recognition that under 25 you can still be vulnerable, do from 14 to 25 depending on what you want to do, or going to prison etc, you aren't a full adult.
It does depend on where you are travelling to, plus usually can't get travel insurance in your own right.

I wouldn't expect any special checking. There is a flagging system parents to log onto if they are worried about children being abducted, such as in custody disputes, but that's all.

17 year olds in the forces can do a lot of things 17 year old civilians can't. It's still not relevant to the discussion for people to say " you can join the army / get married at 17" because you can't, not without parents permission, just as you need parental permission to travel abroad. (Yes I know the marriage age is now 18 in England and Wales, but that's a recent thing).

Same thing with my 17yr old son this year, just him and his friend same age traveling together to the Netherlands. KLM stated on booking he would need all of those documents, but nobody asked to see it!

Ffs, kids can travel alone at the age of 17! Did you not check on that beforehand?

My dd travelled abroad with another family at 17yo and there were no checks. My friends young dd goes on holiday abroad regularly with another family and has never been checked either.

I don't think I'd be surprised. I know there are sometimes checks. I had this once travelling with my son in 2008, was asked why we had different surnames and if his father had given permission but haven't been asked since. So I think the checks are random unless there are any red flags. Actually just remembered another time when my daughter was crying going through passport control (she had an ear infection) and they stopped us and told us not to say anything until she stopped crying and then they asked what was wrong and who were the adults with her.

My son started flying alone at 16 or 17 and was never asked. We teased him the first time and said they would make him wear a lanyard saying "unaccompanied minor" and he was horrified!

In some countries you need birth certificates to prove you are the parents and you aren't' a child trafficker. I have been caught out by this in Africa travelling with my own children

Why are you even bothered

My kids been travelling alone or with friends since about 13

DD2 (17) went away for a mini break with friends and was asked to produce her letter at passport control. Well done Czechia.

Best to have the letter just in case.

I take my daughter with a diff surname abroad with a permission letter from her dad (don’t get me started!) and we’ve only ever been questioned coming back into the UK

Ours wasn't. Though I am actually a solicitor.

DD2 (17) was asked to produce her letter at passport control on entry to her destination country last month.

Did you not check on that before posting?

I travelled back and forth by myself between various countries aged 16 and 17, on account of going to boarding school abroad. No one ever stopped me, and if they did, what would they have asked? Even at that age, you don't need some sort of parental permission slip - it's not school, you know. So if they don't stop teens travelling by themselves, why would they stop teens travelling as part of a bigger group, unless there were some sort of red flag, behaviourally?

It appears that this is actually within some travel rules when going to certain countries so it’s not so much that the OP is babying her 17 year old but that’s it’s a legal thing. I hadnt been aware either.

That is the official advise which means that they might refuse to accept letters that aren't ffs. Obviously it won't alway happen.