I'll be flying with my step-kids in about a month.?

Question

Both my step-sons don't have id's they are 18 and 16. I'm sure that we need a legal ID for the 18 year old but do we need one for the 16 year old? Will a school ID for the 16 year old be enough to fly in the US?

Answer 1

You didn't say if you were from outside the US or inside the US.   If you are a resident of the US,  then the 18 year old would need government issue ID, but the 16 year old wouldn't but it wouldn't hurt to carry the school ID and a birth certificate.  

Travel requirements from United Airline Website

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,672...

All passengers 18 and older are required to present valid and unexpired government-issued photo identification (federal, state or local). For example: driver’s license or passport. All customers must carry government-issued identification with them at all times and may be asked to show identification during boarding.

If you do not have government-issued photo identification, two forms of identification are required:

Non-photo government identification. For example: a voter registration card or social security card.

Credit card or birth certificate

If you are from outside of the US and If you are from a Visa Waiver Program country (do not require a Visa to enter the US for up to 90 days) then each person (infants included) will need their own passports.  The link below has a list of the 27 countries that are part of the VWP.

http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/temp/wi...

Families seeking to enter the United States under the VWP need to obtain an individual machine-readable passport for each traveler, including infants. Machine-readable passports typically have biographic data for only one traveler in the machine-readable zone. Because of the October 26, 2004 requirement that passport data be presented in machine-readable format, children included in family or parents’ passports may be denied visa-free entry into the United States since only the primary traveler’s biographic data is included in the machine-readable zone of the passport.

Answer 2

A child does not need to have ID until they are 18 years old.  School ID is fine and you could also go to the DMV and get him  an ID card as well.  Which isn't required, but sometimes people who do not drive have an option to that because that is a state issued form of ID.