Can a Child Fly with Photocopy Birth Certificate?

Can a Child Fly with Photocopy Birth Certificate?

Can a Child Fly with Photocopy Birth Certificate? The answer is NO. We have checked with AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines and the answer is no and the rules is set by Malaysia Airports and not by them.

A few days ago, there is an incident involving a three years old girl who couldn’t fly with her photocopy birth certificate in Penang. This story was shared by my friend Cynthia Wong and it immediately caught our attention. This is a story from a NGO called Wishing Star.

“Dear AirAsia & Mr Tony Fernandes,

This is Hafiz, diagnosed with cancer of the brain in 2013. Underwent 32 radiotherapy treatment along with 2 major surgery at the tender age of 7 to remove the tumour. Unfortunately he had a relapsed in May 2015 and underwent 8 cycle of chemotherapy. And in December 2016 AGAIN another relapsed & MRI confirmed the tumour is more then 3cm now. He has been sent home under palliative care as there are no more treatment available, a very very cruel medical prognosis. Now what I am about to tell here happens to be more cruel … please read on.

Thanks to some donation we manage to raise during Christmas by Patsy Woo Chai Wei Sue Win Siah & friends we were able to fulfilled this wish immediately. Arrangement has been made & Hafiz were suppose to fly with his family from Penang to Johor Bahru for his Legoland trip TODAY at 5:45pm AK6415 BOOKING NUMBER YFR1FS. Upon check in, “original” birth certificate of Hafiz’s sister who was travelling with them age 2.5yrs old was required however they only have photocopied ones with them. What causes this much regret on our part from Wishing Star is how the delicate situation was not handled delicately. We understood the security protocol set to ensure safest flight possible. But for God’s sake, how do you refuse 2.5 years from flying together with the rest of the family? What aspect of security would this harm anyone? And given the situation this evening, luckily the family was sent off by a friend who was willing to take temporary custody of the child. What if the family were on their own? The whole trip would be cancelled. And if we put aside, the 4 tickets that would hv been burned, how do you mend the shattered pieces of a dying child’s heart and hopes? Condition of Hafiz was explained & pleaded to ground staff, but was not handled properly. There were so many alternative & option could have been extended to them. Where is compassion? Where is empathy? If you are a mother or father reading this; tell me; how do u decide between your dying son’s wish & leaving your other young child behind? That was Hafiz’s mom dilemma! Forced to make a choice because of lack of dicretion & empathy from party involved.

Hafiz & his mom proceed and flew to Johor Bahru leaving behind the 3yrs old sister to one of our friend in Penang …. Can you imagine how is Hafiz feeling now? How can this trip be memorable? How can you undo this? How can this be made right for Hafiz again? Even with a free flight option, do you think no she can fly alone Being a minor, and the original birth certificate is in their house in kampung in Sungai Petani. Thank you Kak Syima Rayyqyss for taking care of Afni now & assisted the family at the airport.
AIRASIA you have just officially crushed a dying boy’s heart.

Wan Shahriza
Maz Waheed · Updated on Sunday”

Source: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.244161376011471&type=1

Remember to follow Wishing Star for their tremendous effort to help Hafiz.

Thus, we went to contact our friends in AirAsia and also Malaysia Airlines to clarify the rules and regulations for this. It is confirmed that a child must carry original birth certificate to fly.

For your information, there is a period of time that there was not enough stock of MyKid in Malaysia. Even my eldest son didn’t have a MyKid and we applied his MyKid last year so if you don’t have a MyKid, please apply one now.

The only criteria you can travel with photocopied birth certificate is the child lost the original birth certificate with police report and without the MyKid. We hope this story gives us awareness on such rules for our children.

So what happened to Hafiz’s sister? There are many people with good heart in this country. Apparently, Ms Siew Peng Soo CEO of BUDS Organics helped them to have a short beachside vacation together.

“Kindness & love still prevails!
Thank you Ms Siew Peng Soo CEO of BUDS Organics for extending the family a short beachside vacation “together” as a “whole” family. Everyone is finally together, no one is “left behind”.
Thank you ❤”””

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/185212788572997/permalink/245247419236200/

Well and of course there is the ugly side of Malaysian. This comment really makes our blood boils over this incident.

“Anak I ada autism. Tak ada pun I nak demand macam macam kat orang. Sick or dying doesn’t mean you are above law or entitled to anything. And no. If I was in their shoes…I wouldn’t tinggalkan anak I yang 3yo dengan entah sesiapa, walaupun anak I yang lagi sorang tu dah nazak and nak pergi Legoland. Lagi rela I cancel the trip and kasi anak yang sakit tu understand… Anak sihat ke sakit ke, selagi kita hidup, bukan kena ajar yang dunia ni bukan kita punya dan bukan semua benda boleh dapat ikut kehendak kita.”

A mother commented on this issue. Come on, have some empathy and sympathy for the family. We couldn’t believe our eyes how a mother could comment like this! The kid is dying and Wishing Star just wanted to grant his wish to visit Legoland. We understand it is the mother’s fault of not carrying the original birth certificate. To be frank, not every parent will want to carry that to travel around. Please be civilised when commenting on such issues. Have some empathy and sympathy.

We hope this incident enlightened us to be more alert in carrying proper documents for traveling. Remember, you can still apply for MyKid if you don’t have one. Thus, you must carry original birth certificate to fly if you don’t have a MyKid.

Thank you AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines for taking time to answer our queries today.

Thank you Wishing Star for making Hafiz’s dream comes true.

Wilson Ng