We officially entered it in the real ID era of air travel. The new rules came into effect on May 7th, requiring the flyer to show Transport Security Management Agency (TSA) agents a compliant identification when passing security at the airport. Now everyone must have an identity that conforms to a real ID, passport, global entry card, or other format of a coalition. So, what happens when you show up at the airport without proper identification?
According to the TSA, it is generally possible to board a plane without an actual ID.
“As long as I can verify my identity, I don’t foresee the time has come to actually deny someone else’s entry into a sterile area,” a TSA spokesman told Afar. “It may take extra time.”
However, many are concerned that travelers without real IDs will need additional time to pass security and create a backlog of their security lines. So far, travelers who have been to the airport since May 7th have reported a relatively smooth process. When traveler Julie Earl Levine flew with her son and his friends from LaGuardia Airport in New York on May 8th to Orlando, Florida, they had no real IDs. Earle-Levine and her son used a passport, but her son’s friend had to verify his identity with his student ID. He told Earl Levine that he added about 15 minutes to his security experience.
If you’ve ever seen a scary “SSS” on a boarding pass that can be applied randomly to your passenger tickets, which you can understand what it’s like to travel without an actual ID. In both cases, you will need to be subject to additional security. Currently, if there is no acceptable identification format while passing through the TSA, you may get a red card indicating that you are not compliant and a warning to fix on your next flight. You may also need to withstand additional security checks immediately. Otherwise, other passengers will be pulled aside to prevent delays.
Some airports have enacted measures to make the Switch more seamless during these first few days. At Laguardia, travelers without the correct ID had a different line. Some airport employees at Baltimore/Washington International Airport were wearing actual ID branded shirts, allowing travelers to go to them with questions. In Tampa, actual ID compliance information signs are scattered across the departure hall.
Part of the problem is that you can use your passport as a substitute, but many U.S. residents don’t have one. According to 2024 data from the US State Department, 49% of Americans have one. Immigrants often struggle to obtain a passport, depending on their legal status. You can also find it difficult to obtain an actual ID, as you may not have access to a birth certificate, a Social Security card, or other documents that can be used to prove your identity and citizenship. In that case, many people will need to bring in a different form of ID, such as a cross-border card, a valid foreign passport, or an employment authorization card.
Mostly, the 20 or so passengers we spoke to for this work believe that the actual ID stress is exaggerated. They reported that security delays could be negligible. Carol Breen, a passenger who leapt out of Dallas on May 8, used his regular driver’s license in place of his actual ID, informing him in the distance that no one mentioned it. “It seemed like it didn’t exist,” she says.
“The TSA has a proverb that if you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen one airport,” a TSA spokesman told Afar. “Things are slightly different at all airports (and) TSA checkpoints. But what we’re hearing is pretty uniform. Everything is going pretty well with no interruptions or important wait times.”
In a TSA statement issued on Monday, May 12, the agency noted that 81% of travelers already have compliant IDs. A TSA spokesperson said that in the future, only those who cannot verify their identity through other documents will be the only people who will die in the future.
