Some driver's licenses no longer accepted as ID on flights

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/drivers-licenses-new-york-domestic-flight-real-id

Sorry if this is a duplicate; I just found out about it myself. If you live in Minnesota, New York, Louisiana, New Hampsire, or American Samoa, be sure you have a passport or an "enhanced" driver's license. Otherwise, bye bye vacation.

 

The article is misleading.

You don't even need ID at all to fly.

 

At the gate, before boarding the jet, they will check ID to make sure the name on the ID matches the name on the boarding pass.

 

Exactly. As far as I know, no one has been sent home from the airport because their driver's license was deemed unworthy due to the new regulations.

 

Technically you are correct, but on a trip 18 months ago my wife lost her wallet between the car and the gate. She had to jump through a few hoops and had to go to an office for clearance, but she still got on the flight. BTW, we found her wallet when we got back under the car seat. So, this was on both flights, outbound and back to home.
EDIT: My bad, I read it wrong. She still had TSA to deal with, but there is no ID check at the gate.

 

No. They haven't checked ID at the gate in forever.

Only TSA checks ID and there are procedures if you don't have one.

 

Oh, the things that set us off here at VMB. lol

The new regulations are being phased in through the 2016 effective date so of course no one has been denied yet. And as several have said you do not need ID to get through TSA. You have to be willing and able to prove up your identity in other ways -- and that can add time -- but this no ID thing is one of the travel urban legends.

 

Yes, it is correct, you can fly if you lost your ID. If you decide to tell them to shove their ID requirement where the sun don't shine... they will soon be looking there and you may not fly.

As to the original article. This has been floating around for quite some time. Every few news cycles, it gets picked up the news babies and they post it again.

Rest assured, they are not going to tell people from a few states they can not fly. Just not going to happen.

 

Interesting. I heard CA gave out driver licenses to undocumented immigrants, never heard NY doing that.

 

its just that the NY and some other states's drivers licences do not meet the dept of homelands new strict requirements as full id's

http://www.dhs.gov/real-id-enforcement-brief

I intend to just apply for the Known traveler number/TSA pre-check

https://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/apply

 

So what happens when I fly with my clipped MN license? 23 hours is a long drive

 

Basically this is a Homeland Security issue. They tried the scare/threat tactics a few years ago (airports not accepting ID's from states not in compliance) to try to get the states to comply but some states refused to play ball. The problem is that each state has to pay on their own (without the feds) to do these upgrades. With the recession and downturn the past few years some states didn't want to pay more for a fed mandate and expected the feds to fund any mandates (which they didn't).

So now it's almost 2016 and Homeland security will have to decide how they are going to handle the states that didn't comply with their mandates. I doubt that Homeland will stop residents in those states (who aren't in compliance) from flying and if they try I expect the White House to rescind any attempts by Homeland to enforce their mandate. Hey, it's an election year, they don't want to do anything to piss off the public.

Should be interesting but in order to save face I expect Homeland to "extend" the implementation date
of their new rules.

 

Good point about the election year. Notice New Hampshire on that list? Where does the primary elections start? Nuff said.

 

Actually we knew that New Hampshire wouldn't do it. Everyone pointed to their state motto to get an indication on how they feel about government intervention (Live free or die).

 

I got a Passport card when I renewed my Passport. Very easy to pack around for the tree-of-liberty machimos. lol

 

I haven't read what they do if you don't have ID. Do they just have you step aside, ask if it is really you on the boarding pass, then let you go to the gate if you say, "Yes?"

 

From the TSA blog. If you are a off the grid type of person you could have problems.

If you’re willing to provide some additional information, we have other means of substantiating your identity, such as using publicly available databases. If we can confirm your identity, you’ll be cleared to go through security, and you may or may not have to go through some additional screening.

If we can’t confirm your identity with the information you provide or you’re not willing to provide us with the information to help us make a determination, you may not be able to fly. Regardless, if you do not have ID, please allow extra time for check in. We would not want you to miss you flight.

http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/04/tsa-travel-tips-tuesday-can-you-fly.html

 

100% truth.

 

I lost my license while in Vegas in 2014. Flight home I had to show other forms of ID (credit cards), had my carry on swabbed and was patted down. Luckily I had a copy of my license that I carry when I walk and my boss e-mailed me a copy of my birth certificate.

 

Theoretically, TSA could use fingerprints to I.D. known travelers.

We thought about getting passport cards in addition to the booklets when we renewed but decided they wouldn't be that useful for us.