TSA to charge $18 fee for travelers without Real ID or passport

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2025/11/21/tsa-security-fee-wrong-id/

by bookofjoe • 8 months ago

69 51 8 months ago

washingtonpost.com

bookofjoe• 8 months ago

https://archive.ph/EvIyA

amanaplanacanal• 8 months ago

Another tax. Great. From a Republican administration. What the hell?

semiquaver• 8 months ago

The REAL ID act was an expensive unfunded mandate passed in 2005, so the republican administration that imposed this tax is actually that of GWB.

quartesixte• 8 months ago

God I had forgotten how old this law is. And how consistently it has been delayed for decades. Born of the post 9/11 world and its concerns...

watersb• 8 months ago

Once you've privatised government operations, the tax revenue flows directly to the NATIONAL SECURITY contractor, so extra taxes is all good. You're paying enterprising folks for the privilege of walking around in a free country.

rahimnathwani2• 8 months ago

  The majority of travelers are ID-compliant — around 94 percent, according to the TSA.

It seems crazy to me that 6% of travelers are going to the airport without ID. (I presume that accompanied minors who aren't required to show ID are included in the 94%)

tapoxi2• 8 months ago

Real ID is a series of annoying steps that you need to go through to get a star on your license. People that haven't "upgraded" to Real ID are the noncompliant ones.

rahimnathwani2• 8 months ago

I don't remember any annoying steps to get Real ID at the CA DMV in San Francisco. (For reference, I'm not a US citizen, but am here legally.)

What are the annoying steps others have faced?

heelix• 8 months ago

I've had problems getting one. Taken a couple attempts at it when the drivers license renews. Last attempt, it seems those adopted need both the biological as well as the legal birth certificate. I've sorted my passport, so do have a passport card now - but I don't always travel with it. (One of the gotchas with GA flying, some days you end up taking a commercial flight home) Guess that changes. Previously, they would just wave you through and 'randomly' select you for fabric/skin swabs.

rhgraysonii• 8 months ago

I have done at least 20 flights with no ID. Long story. But yeah this would be clutch for dumbasses like me.

DANmode• 8 months ago

We have time.

nerdsniper• 8 months ago

Just FYI: nowadays they only use each security question once, so apparently if they run out of questions after many times of doing this, you might not get cleared to fly.

jackdecker• 8 months ago

While I don’t feel one way or another about this w.r.t. charging this fee to people without a Real ID who show up with a normal ID, as someone who has just lost their ID entirely, or shown up accidentally to the airport without it -

This totally makes sense.

The amount of effort it takes for a TSA agent (granted, this is mostly entirely fabricated effort, this seems like a more solved problem, but I digress) to verify my identity the few times this had happened is well worth $18.

It’s not a quick phone call to an external agency and you rattle off your social; it’s a whole shebang.

“Did you live at x? Who else lived at that address with you?” “What was your sisters last address before her current” “What was the second address you lived at in [city]”

To be entirely honest, the whole thing was super entertaining. I think part of it was just it made me feel like some super spy.

Anyway - good on them for charging a few bucks. Don’t forget your ID or get your ID updated.

(Sidenote: this line of questioning wasn’t this interesting every time. Sometimes it is more like a one and done question, but I am at my most impressed with TSA when it seems like they actually do give a fuck, and the times it’s been an in-depth line of questioning has stuck with me)

hermanzegerman5• 8 months ago

Why do they need to identify you for a domestic flight anyway?

In Europe I don't need to show ID for flights inside the Schengen Area. You go through security, they check your luggage and it's done.

There is no legitimate reason for the government to identify you on a domestic flight

londons_explore• 8 months ago

"We need your id to put your name on the passenger manifest"

"The manifest is required by law"

"We can't just put your possibly-fake name on the manifest because then we'd be committing a crime"

Combinations of other rules probably effectively require it, even if nonsensical.

gagik_co• 8 months ago

Schengen thing should be working like this but more and more I have been asked for ID/passport, usually by the airline before boarding or local police acting as border guards after arrival.

rkomorn2• 8 months ago

Edit: disregard this if you're talking specifically about showing ID at security checkpoints (instead of at boarding).

In Europe I don't need to show ID for flights inside the Schengen Area.

What countries are you traveling between?

I've flown at least a dozen times between Portugal and Spain or France the past few years and they've checked my ID in both directions each time.

It's also required to at least carry ID (presumably because it may be checked): https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/eu-c...

"As an EU national, you have the right to travel freely in the 27 EU member countries as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland (non-EU countries but members of the Schengen area) carrying either a valid passport or a national identity card (ID card)."

bluecalm2• 8 months ago

>In Europe I don't need to show ID for flights inside the Schengen Area

Really? I fly between Schengen countries multiple times a year. I don't remember one where I wasn't required to show my ID at both check-in and then gates. There are even ID scanners at the gates.

Driving licence doesn't count as ID either. It's either passport or official government ID card.

StillBored2• 8 months ago

Right, and the reason this has been going on for nearly a quarter century in the USA is because it was widely considered an unconstitutional national passport until 9-11, and got bipartisan push-back from a number of states following its passage.

The federal government passed it along with the authoritarian wishlists various agencies had been salivating over for 40+ years and unable to get passed, until under the guise of saving us from the 'terrorists', who now 25 years later, turned out the actual terrorists were probably just domestic authoritarians. The guys living in caves weren't really a threat and could be dealt with, without passing a bunch of stuff to affect every single citizen of the country.

panny3• 8 months ago

This totally makes sense.

But asking people to show ID to vote is racist, right?

There's nothing about the process of obtaining a "real id" that makes sense.

ghaff6• 8 months ago

I don't know the situation these days but a number of years back I managed to lose my license somewhere between the curb and entering the airport. Really last minute trip so I didn't bring my usual backups. Was AMAZED I was able to get through security with just a pat down and probably some questions.

kotaKat2• 8 months ago

Why do I have a feeling this is just going to be bolting a bill acceptor onto CLEAR kiosks as the "alternative biometric verification"?

tylergetsay• 8 months ago

Using clear I rarely have to show my ID

TSA to charge $18 fee for travelers without Real ID or passport

Related Stories