Do I need to declare prescription melatonin?

[Chocciechunkcookie]

Travelling to Spain soon and my son has a melatonin prescription. I also tend to take a pack of paracetamol on holiday with me. I've used Eurostar the past few years where customs seems simpler (or maybe I've just been oblivious).

Do I need to go through the "something to declare" line with my son's melatonin? And is that going in to Spain and when returning? Ds is autistic and I'm trying to make this all go smoothly as poss as he struggles with travelling.

Also, if I requested assistance to help avoid the crowds at security for him, can my whole family also go? Boarding passes etc are on my phone so it would make sense not to split up but there's 5 of us in total...

Looks like you can. Bring the prescription or a letter from his doctor.
https://www.healthplanspain.com/blog/expat-tips/1587-can-you-bring-prescription-medicines-into-spain.html

So he's fine to bring it but we should go through the red something to declare channel? Or not worry about declaring it cos it's not a controlled drug like opiates?

I don't think you need to go through the something to declare channel - I thought that was only for things you needed to pay duty on? Maybe I am confused though.

I'm pretty sure melatonin is an over the counter medicine in Spain so would not be a problem. It definitely is in France where I stock up and the pharmacist there is mystified why it is prescription only in the UK!

Doubt you'd need to, we've bought it in the supermarket in Italy!

I think melatonin is fine. DS1's adhd meds are controlled drugs, so we have a letter from his psychiatrist when we travel.
Both my boys are ND, so we have used special assistance in the past and it covers the whole family. Many airports have a 'quiet gate' where it is more peaceful and that works well for us. My boys are teens now and don't like their sunflower lanyards being visible which is a whole other issue!

Do you have a sunflower lanyard for your son? That will help airport staff know you need extra assistance. You can get the lanyard at the airport (for free) if you don’t have one already. We used the assistance line with BA for check in and were shown to a short queue for security at Heathrow last week. We were through very quickly. The whole family will stay together.

Some airports have quiet zones so have a look on the airport website before travelling. I think Gatwick used to have a sensory area you could book.

I asked BA at the gate if we could board first to help my daughter’s anxiety (she is also autistic) and the staff were very helpful.

It can be bought in pharmacies and supermarkets in Spain over the counter, as a pp also said. Therefore there will be zero issues with you taking it with you there.

So general consensus is go down the nothing to declare green line? Ok, that's one thing mentally ticked off.

He has a sunflower lanyard but apparently this won't grant him access to the family queue/quiet room at Barcelona airport. They say you need their specific invisible disabilities badge for that but their website is shit and the form to request the badge only gets so far before there's a non existent drop down menu that means you can't proceed until you've selected an option from said non existent menu. I'll request special assistance but don't hold out too much hope as there's been a chat on NAS saying their special assistance basically focuses on physical assistance.

the form to request the badge only gets so far before there's a non existent drop down menu

I went to this page https://www.aena.es/en/passengers/travellers/passengers-with-special-needs/invisible-disabilities/invisible-disabilities-badge.html and clicked on "Get your badge", which took me to this page https://tramitesyreclamaciones.aena.es/distintivo_di/#/. I was then able to fill in all the fields on several forms, all the way up to the final submit button which I didn't press. Where did it get stuck for you? The forms seem to be only in Spanish, so maybe some bits weren't clear. Do you have a screenshot perhaps?

Thank you! I was in that form but It wasn't behaving last night. It was the origin and destination boxes on the 3rd page. I clicked and it would let me type but it wanted me to select from a menu which just wouldn't come up when I clicked on the box. Seems to be working now though which is weird but helpful! I'll do that and request assistance too to cover all angles.

Just to mention, I used the special assistance at Malaga recently for my DP (I was with him). Admittedly it was a physical issue, and I have to say it was seamless and brilliant. Ahem, don't freak out but we gave a tip to the assistant and it was very gratefully accepted too! Not mandatory or expected at all but he was so good and careful it was a gesture of appreciation. The assistance service was free. Booked through AENA site.

For obscure reasons, AENA (the Spanish airport company) included all of their own airports, but then all of the others come under "Otro". I suppose it's for their internal statistics.

Sometimes dropdown lists get stuck, especially when they have formatting on them as in this case. Maybe you just need a new browser session. Glad it's working now.

For what it's worth, the service you get will either be amazing (the people will be the nicest in the world) or non-existent (they won't have hired anyone, or they didn't show up for work). Spain can be a bit like that. Can you come back and tell us how you got on? 🙏

So the badge thing isn't a badge. In my head I was thinking a badge that you pick up from somewhere? I dunno. But it's a letter to print so you can wave it at the assistance line for security. Ds doesn't like the idea of special treatment with full on assistance booking so we may just wing it with the letter as it's the crowded queues and the loud instructing (he says he gets yelled at) at security which he gets most overwhelmed with anyway. Whichever way we do it, I'll come back with the story of how it went..

As promised, I'm back to let you know how it went! Turned up to the assistance desk in Barcelona, nobody was there. Waited 10mins, nothing. Asked a random member of staff in broken Spanish, they said they would call and to wait 5mins. Waited 15 then decided to go as ds was getting stressed thinking something was wrong.

Turns out there was literally nobody else in the queue for security anyway. Not a soul. We had 4 lovely members of staff asking the kids how their holiday had been and making jokes with them. Ds was thrilled. He said it's helped him realise it's not always bad (previous experiences of airport and Eurostar security haven't been positive for him) so even though there was no assistance, it wasn't needed and was a lovely chilled experience

For the past 15 years, Spain has had some of the best and most stress-free airport security in Europe.

For example, at all the airports I've used, they have designed the queuing system so that you can take as much time as you need to unpack your stuff without feeling like you are blocking someone.

At Palma, and maybe others, they even have a "small child in the party" lane. The person who supervises the turnstiles where you scan yourself in with a QR code watches to see if there is an under-7 (-ish) child, and if so the family is directed to a separate area, where the trays are coloured 😎 and the staff are specifically trained. As a result, the children are not overstressed, and they aren't getting under the feet of adults.

Anyway, I'm glad it went well. Spanish people are generally lovely as long as they aren't being bureaucratic!