
Can You Fly Without an ID? (2013) - _pius
http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/04/tsa-travel-tips-tuesday-can-you-fly.html?m=1
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Someone1234
This is a little bit of a tangent...

Why, in the US, are IDs immediately ignored when they expire? You often read
about people being unable to vote, buy alcohol, or travel because their
driving licence expired last week.

But realistically the whole point of ID checking is to determine if someone is
who they say they are. If they have a picture ID, expired or not, which
clearly proves that then why not accept it regardless of expiry?

The only reason these IDs expire at all is to force you to update the photo
and other personal info.

PS - I understand why with international travel and passports. Since then
you're subject to the foreign entities' rules/stupidity (and airlines can be
fined for letting someone travel without a valid passport). I'm mostly asking
about inter-US travel.

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zacwest
People can sell or give away expired licenses when they receive a new one. You
can't trust an expired license because it implies there's one which _isn't_
expired.

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ChristianBundy
As a twenty-something, I've never heard of anyone selling or giving away an
expired ID, as nobody will take it. Instead, you go to DMV and say you lost
your ID – they'll charge you $X, and you sell the original for $X+P (where P
is your profit margin).

> You can't trust an expired license because it implies there's one which
> _isn't_ expired.

This is also untrue. Just because my ID has expired doesn't mean that I've
already gone through the steps to get a new ID. An expired ID means that the
ID has expired; nothing more, nothing less.

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itsdevlin
Can confirm. Did this all through college.

Speaking of 'things that should be tracked' \- I'm blown away that it didn't
raise any red flags when I 'lost' ~50 Drivers Licenses over the course of a
year or two.

~~~
randyrand
Do you really not care about people running around with your identity?

Also, I call shenanigans!

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jmuguy
A few years ago I lost my ID on the way to visit a friend in Oakland. I did
have a extremely old drivers license that was basically faded to nothing. On
my trip home, I presented this to the TSA agent. He proceeded to pull a
jewelers monocle out of nowhere, examined the ID, and let me through. That was
a weird experience. I hadn't even considered that I might not need an ID at
all.

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josephschmoe
The official TSA blog...did not look anything like I expected it to be.

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adamnemecek
Indeed. And the tone is surprisingly lighthearted.

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Fuzzwah
Surprising and, I found it, very annoying.

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fnordfnordfnord
It's nice to hear that from the horse's mouth, but it kind of misses the point
that a lot of the folks who would try to fly without showing ID are trying to
make which is that you shouldn't have to ID yourself (at least not to the
gov't) in order to fly.

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kreitje
I had some family come out recently and my brother lost his ID a day or 2
before the trip. When going through security on his return flight home, I
watched him get taken to the front of line for the scanning machine, ran
through these databases right next to the scanners and was cleared a lot
faster than other members in my family going through the normal process.

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gfody
IIRC this is powered by an Experian product called PreciseID. It's interesting
tech. You can read about it here:
[http://www.experian.com/assets/government/white-
papers/ident...](http://www.experian.com/assets/government/white-
papers/identity-proofing.pdf)

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danso
A couple weeks ago I flew from NY to SF without any government photo ID. I
brought my social security card and school ID (which has a photo)...the TSA
agent looked over the cards and said it was fine, as long as I wasn't going
overseas.

(didn't even get an additional patdown or luggage screening)

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ToastyMallows
Isn't a Social Security card a type of government issued ID? It didn't mention
anything about a photo.

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danso
Not necessarily...when taking on a new job, you have to fill out DHS forms
that establish:

1\. Identity [http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-
documents/list-b...](http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-
documents/list-b-documents)

2\. Authorization to work: [http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-
documents/list-c...](http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/acceptable-
documents/list-c-documents)

A SS card (and birth certificate) falls in that latter category. It cannot
alone establish identity.

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bengali3
imagine if you didn't have to tell the airline your identity until the day of
the flight (eliminating change fees). I'm guessing airline ticket prices would
(ultimately) become less volatile with the introduction of ticket brokers.

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bluedino
Who's in charge of the the design of that site?

Terribly resized image containing the URL, horrible font...

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Someone1234
Looks like it is a Blogger template.

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autism_hurts
You totally can. Buddy lost his ID in Vegas, and flew back. Rattled off his CA
DL#, got a putdown, and was good to go.

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a3n
> Rattled off his CA DL#, got a putdown, and was good to go.

Can I opt for the non-putdown line?

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dalke
No. You get the special line staffed by TSA agents who moonlight as cynical
standup comedians used to dealing with hecklers.

