DS (17) flying to Spain solo to stay with his friend & family. Parental permission wuestion

[WinterInTheAutumn]

I’ve been trying to find a template form so that I can provide our details, but can’t seem to find anything official.

As DS is 17, he’s classed as a minor in Spain so will require supporting documents from us, with details of where he’s staying etc.

I’m ok with the destination details, DS’s friend’s DP are sorting out details of where he’ll be staying etc, but it’s just our parental permission I’m unsure of.

Would a letter with all our our details, copy of our passports etc be ok? Argh!

It’s a pity he’s not charged as a minor rather than an adult for his flights!

Also, I need to book a flight only. If I set up an account with Ryanair in my name, can I book a flight for DS and forward him the documents?

It’s been a while since a flew and I’ve always been with him 🫠

Obvs title should be Question!

DS15 is flying to Finland next month. We needed to fill a form of consent. I photocopied it from the BA website. Ryan air refused us as he was only 15. Only Finnair via BA would take him, so double check just in case.

You can just write out a basic letter saying you consent to child travelling.

Include your names, dates of birth, passport numbers, mobile numbers and flight details.

They often don't ask to see anything in our experience of BA and Iberia.

Also, make sure you say that the friend’s parents have authority to make medical decisions until you arrive/can be contacted.

And I have booked flights for DH/DC with EasyJet/BA without issues and given them the docs/logged them into my app so they get the updates re gates/delays

Thank you.
i think (or hope) because DS is 17 he’ll be ok with Ryanair. Finger’s crossed.

Thank you.
I’m going to sort a medical consent form for his friend’s parents.

Its on the ryanair that he's considered as an adult for the flight so need to think or hope.

Which should also mean he can set up his own account which should make it easier to access. He can still pay using your card if you want to use a credit card, but he could also pay with his own debit card.

Don't forget he should also get the host family to send a Carta de invitacion to prove he's only staying with them for a holiday and he has accommodation with them for the duration of the trip.

https://www.immigrationspain.es/en/invitation-letter-spain/

Yes, you can book on Ryanair for him. Not a problem.

Thank you!

Once I book the flights the host family have said they will send me this invitation info. I just wish there was similar info regarding my parental letter. I can easily set one up, copying our passports etc but need to know if that will be enough, along with his travel insurance?

Good idea about DS setting up his own account. Think this is what we’ll do, then it’s all on his phone.

My children have travelled as unaccompanied minors, travelled with relatives and travelled solo.

They have never been asked for the consent letters. At 17 I am sure he will sail through and you will wonder why you worried!

Don't forget he should also get the host family to send a Carta de invitacion

There is absolutely no need to bother with this. It is only ever asked for when people from lower-and-middle-income countries are applying for a visa to come to Spain. It reduces the amount of cash they need to show that they have, because they do not need to pay for accommodation. The consulate checks all that before issuing the visa. But UK passport holder get a visa waiver.

There has been persistent clickbait scaremongering about this since Brexit, ditto the thing about having to show that you have €100 per person per day to spend. It is all bollocks (I am incandescent at Simon Calder repeating the whole thing just this week in the Independent, complete with his repeated dog-in-the-manger line about "This is exactly what people voted for" -- he may be right, in theory, but it gets very tiresome after a while).

40 million UK tourists have visited Spain in the last 4 years and not a single one has been asked for anything like this. (If anyone had been asked, it would have been all over the tabloids for months.) The immigration officials stamping passports of people on Ryanair flights from the UK do not know what the Carta de Invitacion looks like and they have no guidance on how to check for spending money either. Again, it's only for the consulates.

(And yes, in theory they can ask for this, if you read the Spanish immigration laws carefully, because officially there is no discrimination between people who enter on a visa versus having a visa waiver. But in practice, there is 100% discrimination.)

Regarding the letter, try something like this. I'm not a lawyer, but I found this online and it seems fairly clear.

To whom it may concern:
Our son Billy, born 11/11/2006, passport number 123456, is travelling to Majorca for a holiday at the XYZ Hotel in El Bigtown from 25 July to 5 August 2024. He is in the company of our friends David Smith, passport number 234567, and his wife Susan Smith, passport number 345678, both of 14 Niceview Terrace, Birmingham B15 8XX, United Kingdom. Mr and Mrs Smith have our full permission to act in loco parentis on behalf of Billy during this time. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on +44 7171 717171.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth [and DF's name if applicable] Jones, 12 Niceview Terrace, Birmingham B15 8XW, United Kingdom.

Translate it into Spanish with DeepL.com, print it in both languages, and sign it (and get DF to sign if appropriate).

It almost certainly won't be asked for at immigration, but it might be useful if your son needs emergency medical treatment for any reason.

Is this form needed because he is travelling alone ? Seems odd at 17. You don't need of travelling in a group and/or with a friend's family ?

It's needed because the authorities potentially need to be able to identify a responsible adult who is in loco parentis (authorised to act as if they were a parent).

For example, if the 17yo is lying unconscious after a road accident and the doctors need permission to perform operation X, someone has to sign to approve that, and the doctors need to know that the person does indeed have the authority to sign.

My 16 year old daughter flew to France today with 3 friends and one of the friends mum. We didn't need to provide any permission letters, or loco parentis details. We just made sure she had her own health insurance and a GHIC card.

She is also going to Spain at the end of August with the same group of friends but different parent and again we have not been asked for anything.

And was in Germany (again same friends different parent) in January when she was 15, and still nothing.

Flights have been Air France, Ryanair and Easyjet!!!

Our situation was similar @redastra
There were 4 or 5 17 year old lads with the father of one going to family villa . Never occurred to me there could be such an issue - other youngsters that age had travelled abroad with no parental figure. This was pre-Brexit though so perhaps that's the difference .

Airline manager here 👋

they’ll definitely need info if consent if flight is disrupted and they need to overnight him in a hotel as hotels won’t take under 18s so staff will have to chaperone and therefore need the consent information! But if the worse happens they’ll contact you anyway!

Hopefully this won’t happen 🤞

It's nothing to do with Brexit. People under 18 are legally children, and there are lots of things that other people can't do for them without parental authority. I mentioned medical treatment and @JollyHostess101 has mentioned booking them into a hotel.

Additionally, children entering the Schengen area, regardless of their citizenship, are potentially subject to checks of who is accompanying them. In this regard, I refer you to (pic) paragraph 5.6.2 from the EU's excellent (and very readable) "Practical Handbook for Border Guards", which you can download from https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/8cea3074-8a87-489c-b9c2-d926101ac621_en?filename=Practical%20handbook%20for%20border%20guards_en.pdf [PDF]. In practice a 17yo who is obviously excited to get to the beach with his host family will not provoke more than a brief question when they hand over their passport with a different family name to everyone else in the party, but it can't hurt to have the right paperwork to enable escalation if anything else goes wrong.

So think of the letter as like travel insurance: You don't need it, right up to the moment when you do.

My eldest went interrailing when she finished a levels and was still 17 (travelling with a friend who was 18). She flew to Seville and back from Prague with Ryanair on her own, went through Italy, Austria, Slovenia.

We didn't do any of this 🤷‍♀️.

Thanks @samarrange irrelevant for us now as this was some years back and there were no issues - but hopefully this will be useful to others with DC currently that age and travelling .