united-states international travel air-travel
Was it legal in 2004 to sell a minor an airline ticket from the US to a foreign country without proof of parental consent?
<p>Alone, when I was 17 (born 1987), I bought a ~$537 round-trip web/internet ticket (for a 2-week trip to Amsterdam by way of Germany) and returned at age 18. I did not have official parental consent, and I was not asked for proof of consent.</p>
<p>Did the airport/airline who made money and/or the travel agent who made money break the law?</p>
<p>As with all my law/legal questions, I do not intend to litigate and do not need legal advice, so I am seeking general legal knowledge, what happens in such situations, what laws apply, how well does the law work covering these factors?</p>
<ul>
<li><sup>In terms of &quot;minors should be protected from unscrupulous merchants taking unfair advantage of their naivete&quot; and &quot;minors should be restricted from jetting off to parts unknown, for their own safety&quot;, I did not mean to distinguish one or the other though, judgement could be for both issues, if a line was crossed, either is applicable.</sup></li>
</ul>

<p>So far as I can see, no US law required an airline to demand written parental consent for a passenger aged 17 in 2004, nor does any law requires such consent now. A passport could probably have been required. Minors in general may make and enforce contracts, including those for purchase of travel services. Parental consent is only required for a few specific activities, and air travel does not seem to be one.</p>
<p>The question asks &quot;Was I liable at 17 or 18...?&quot; Liable for what? There is no liability unless there is wrongdoing or negligence or at least harm to someone. I don't see what there was to be liable for here, so there is no reason to try to determine who was liable.</p>
<p>Had a law been violated, it would make sense to ask who was criminally responsible, but apparently none was. If no one was harmed there is no civil liability.</p>
<p>I am not clear why the OP thinks there was a legal problem. Nothing in the question indicates that there would have been.</p>

<p>Nothing you describe is illegal.  Seventeen-year-olds travel alone by air all the time.  Some airlines do not even offer their unaccompanied minor service to seventeen-year-olds.  By the end of the trip, you weren't even a minor.</p>
<p>There's no law preventing minors from leaving or entering the US or the Netherlands alone.  The drinking age for beer and wine in the Netherlands was 16 at the time (it was raised to 18 in 2014).</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Did the airport/airline or the travel agent break the law?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No. It's perfectly legal to sell an airline ticket to a 17 year old and it's perfectly legal for a 17 year old to travel internationally on their own. My kids have travelled transatlantic on their own starting at age 15 or so without any consent documents or any special arrangements.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Was I liable at 17 or 18 the same given international/domestic laws, what about other organizations, jurisidictions, agents?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You are always liable for breaking laws or rules in the local jurisdiction that you are in. Minors can (and do) commit crimes. Whether you are a minor or not may affect the consequences of the liability and to what extent your parents are liable as well, but the liability is always there. But as far as I can tell, you haven't broken any laws or rules, so it the question is irrelevant.</p>
<p>You may have done something that your parents weren't okay with, but that's between you and your parents.</p>
