One of the children was listed with a last name of Meng-USA. There were other Meng’s on the plane but none were of USA residency.
The other child was Zhang-USA and there were also plenty of adult Zhang’s but again, none appear to be USA residents.
Strange to me.....
Birth tourism? Popular among Asians.
I agree it is strange but I’d make one point: It’s possible those passengers with the same last names were indeed the parents but weren’t US citizens even though their children are. For example, I am an American, and my daughter is an American. However, her father is Australian & lives in the US on a Visa. When we travel, his passport is Australian. If my daughter were to be on an international flight with him alone, their last names are the same, but she would be identified as an American and him as an Aussie.
Not everyone has a spouse with the same citizenship that they have. International marriages do occur. and in those cases, a parent will sometimes take a child to the home country while the other parent stays home and works.
In one case there is a possible parent with an identical name to that of the 2 year old, with a 34 year age span. In the other case, it appears that it could be one parent and two possible grandparents with the child.