How would the airline know if we took a different child when ID is not required under 18?

pharm522: How would the airline know if we took a different child when ID is not required under 18?
The original passenger is not able to fly. Since tickets are non-transferable and apparently the ticket price has gone up two-fold plus fees, we want to take another child without paying the cxl/rebook fee. How would the airline be able to verify this if ID is not required?

Answers and Views:

Answer by ♦♦♦ Liebestod ♦♦♦
The airline cannot verify because of that exemption. However, if and when something goes awfully wrong, the adult is fully responsible for the legal repercussions. If you must know, there is such a thing in law called ‘in good faith,’ and you acknowledge the fact that tickets are not transferable. As it is, if you willfully substitute another child from the original name contracted on the ticket, it is already a violation of the Contract of Carriage. I suggest you obtain a copy of that through your travel agent or the airline concerned. Pls. read it and understand it well.

Answer by Pilsner Man
In layman’s terms, if there was an accident, the child had some sort of major health problem due to the flight, or any other bizarre incident occurred, you could be in deep kimchi.

You are correct that the airline or TSA wouldn’t really know, if an ID is not required.