Has anyone here used a Permission to Travel form for their child for travel to Europe?

When my daughter was a minor I would always take a notarized consent form from her biological father (My ex husband) when we traveled -- as just the two of us -- out of the country. Only once was it requested (on a cruise leaving from Florida) but I was glad that I had it JUST IN CASE. It was likely different because there was only one parent present and it could potentially been a case of parental child "abduction" (in someone's mind?)

I can't say in your case as you will have two parents and an assortment of children with likely different surnames.

As far as a form, I merely typed up something along the lines of "I (insert name) am aware that (my name) is taking (kid name) to x, y, and z for the period from (time) to (time)" and have it notarized.

Good luck & have fun.

It sounds like it's a "better safe than sorry" scenario. I have a really difficult ex-husband and he will give me grief over asking for this letter, same as he did when I needed him to sign the form for my child's passport. At least my husband's ex-wife is easier to deal with.

I got them for my sons when I took them to London a few years ago. We weren't asked for them and they stayed in my documents folder the entire time, but it's really worth it if there's any chance the other parent might get tricky. You know your own situation best.

Scully,
The web site for the Department of Homeland Security and the site for Customs and Border Protection offer some information about this that you may find helpful. If your ex is indeed "difficult" I'd strongly suggest being sure you dot all the "Is" and cross all the "Ts" to avoid some sort of last minute "issue".

We took granddaughters with different last names from ours to Paris & London recently. We had all the proper consent forms, and were not asked by TSA or anyone at airports in Atlanta or CDG to show documents. When we took the Eurostar to London the British Border Control asked for documents and asked both girls some questions about their travel.

To be safe, I would definitely try to get this from your ex. But if for whatever reason you can't, my experience having just last month traveled with my kids and partner, I had it, but nobody asked for it. It may be related to the ages of the kids, mine are 11 and 13, so old enough to answer questions at immigration etc. But everywhere I looked does say that you need this to travel, and if they do ask for it, and you don't have it, that could be a major issue, causing you to possibly miss a flight or something. It might help if you draft and print the letter and bring it to your ex and ask him to sign it. It is supposed to be notarized, but that can be difficult. I'd focus on getting him to sigh it at the very least. Sorry your ex is not super cooperative.

Jon, did they ask for the notarized letters, or just passports?

When we took our grandsons' to the EU, we had permission letters from their parents. Never asked for them at PP control, however, we had them in case of any injuries.
I can tell you that on another occasion in Croatia, there was a coach with one of his minor players on long distance with the parents to get something fax'd to the pharmacy we were in so he could get an enhaler for his allergies.

Jerry, I could totally see where that would be necessary if a child was traveling without either of his parents.

In our case, we will be with our children, and can approve medical treatments on site if, god forbid, any are needed.

Regardless, we've decided to ask our ex-spouses to provide us with a notarized letter, based on the advice of everyone, to make sure we cover all of our bases when it comes to taking our kiddos out of the country.

Letters and passports were both requested.