If you plan to fly with your baby, certain documents are essential, in addition to the passport or identity document. Stéphanie almost missed her flight when she traveled with her two-month-old son for the first time. She tells.
Traveling for the first time with a baby is always a little stressful for parents. For a peaceful flight, you need to be well organized, but the companies are rather accommodating when you are accompanied by young children. For example, there is no limit on liquid products on board the plane: you can therefore take your baby’s water, baby food and compotes, milk, etc. with you. It is also possible to take the stroller with you or leave it at the plane door and pick it up when you exit, which is practical so as not to take up too much space. But when it comes to papers, there is obviously no tolerance. You must have your passport up to date and that of your child in their name (or an identity document depending on your destination). But another document is sometimes necessary to pass security. Stéphanie, mother of a little boy named Matéo, experienced this.
“When Matéo was two months old, we took the plane for the first time, heading to Greece. I had planned everything so as not to stress when the time came, and we were rather well organized with the dad, but we almost got stuck at Paris airport, because of a simple detail that I really wouldn’t have thought of,” the young mother explains to us. Indeed, when she passes the security point, and the border police check the identity papers, Stéphanie finds herself in embarrassment. “I presented my passport, that of my partner and our son, but they asked me to prove that I was indeed the mother of the child, by presenting a family record book, or failing that the certificate of birth”, says Stéphanie. And for good reason: the young woman is not married and therefore does not have the same last name as the father.
For security reasons, the couple would not have been able to go through security and board the plane with their child without this official document. Luckily, the young dad found a birth certificate in the papers scanned on his smartphone, which did the trick. “Since then, I never forget to take our family record book, but this experience also made me want to have the same name as my son and no longer have to prove that I am really his mother.”