Beware; taking kids to South Africa
annimpi
Posts: 3 Newbie
The SA government introduced a new rule from 1st June 2015 that if you travel to South Africa with children under 18 yrs, they must have their birth certificate showing both parents. If they are not travelling with both parents, you need an affidavit from the parent not travelling to say you have their permission to take the child out of the country. If you do not have all the required documents, you will not be allowed to travel to SA.
We just had our holiday totally ruined. We got a connecting flight to Paris and then were only informed of this rule when trying to board the plane to Johannesburg. So we were then stuck in Paris at 11.30 pm with 2 tired children, trying to work out how to get their birth certificates from the UK. We gave up and came home, after spending an extra £1000 on hotels and flights.:( We can't claim it back on insurance either. We booked the holiday before June, so I don't know how we were meant to know this was coming in.,,
We just had our holiday totally ruined. We got a connecting flight to Paris and then were only informed of this rule when trying to board the plane to Johannesburg. So we were then stuck in Paris at 11.30 pm with 2 tired children, trying to work out how to get their birth certificates from the UK. We gave up and came home, after spending an extra £1000 on hotels and flights.:( We can't claim it back on insurance either. We booked the holiday before June, so I don't know how we were meant to know this was coming in.,,
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Comments
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Always worth checking the FCO advice before travelling to any country - it is detailed on there.0
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Can I ask who you flew with please?
I've received 3 or 4 emails over the last few months from Virgin Atlantic advising agents of this change to South Africa's policy regarding child passengers. You may have recourse against the airline or agent you booked with if they didn't pass this information onto you.0 -
Can I ask who you flew with please?
Sounds like AF and, if so they have all the details on their website
http://www.airfrance.co.uk/GB/en/common/guidevoyageur/pratique/visa_document_airfrance.htm under Preparing your Trip
most airlines will cover themselves saying it is always the passengers responsibility to ensure they have the correct documentation so do not need to advise every passenger separately but the issue will be the fact that the change came in after the OP booked so could be understood why not to check repeatedly for changes0 -
Can I ask who you flew with please?
I've received 3 or 4 emails over the last few months from Virgin Atlantic advising agents of this change to South Africa's policy regarding child passengers. You may have recourse against the airline or agent you booked with if they didn't pass this information onto you.
Neither the airline or the agent are responsible for advising on immigration requirements, the OP's situation is very unfortunate but responsibility for checking this information remains with them.0 -
Hi, I have recently had a very similar experience. Can you let me know if you managed to reclaim any funds from the travel agent?0
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the OP has not posted in over 6 months so unlikely to get a response...maybe send a PM on the offchance, but the T&Cs usually confirm that it is always the passengers responsibility to ensure they have the correct documentationHi, I have recently had a very similar experience. Can you let me know if you managed to reclaim any funds from the travel agent?0
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