Business travelers with a proclivity for barely making their flights beware: Come Oct. 1, a new form of identification will be required to board domestic air flights. It is one that tens of thousands of travelers may not possess, an update sure to make life stressful for airport security workers as wait times at security checkpoints become lengthy.
“As many as 80,000 travelers, based upon our economic analysis, could show up on Oct. 1, 2020, without having the needed form of identification to get through security checkpoint,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice president of public affairs and policy at the U.S. Travel Association, an organization representing the travel industry.
That number increases to nearly 500,000 passengers within the first week for all domestic airports, according to Barnes. With passengers denied access to their airplanes, airports are likely to become overcrowded, which could grind operations to a halt.
At issue is the “Real ID,” which was created in 2005 legislation and requires more information than what is currently needed to obtain a driver’s license. Applicants must go to their local Department of Motor Vehicles and present documentation that shows their full legal name, Social Security number, date of birth, and two pieces of documentation that prove their home address. The Department of Homeland Security has been in charge of getting Real IDs into the hands of citizens and recently announced that two-thirds of all licenses are not compliant.
“While progress has been made, the real work is still ahead because approximately two-thirds of all licenses are presently not compliant with Real ID,” said acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf when he announced that applicants could send their documentation electronically to the DMV. He did add they would have to show up at the DMV to retrieve their licenses.
Republican congresswoman Debbie Lesko from Arizona foresees the Oct. 1 deadline getting pushed back since so few people have the ID.
“They’re going to have to postpone it because you can’t have, on Oct. 1, thousands of people showing up” without the ID, she said, adding that “there’d be mass confusion.”
The congresswoman cautioned that her position is an educated guess, but if the deadline gets postponed, she said it would likely last “longer than a few months.”
Postponing the deadline would take an act of Congress, a prospect that currently seems unlikely but could change as the deadline draws closer.
Lesko teamed up with Democratic congresswoman Stephanie Murphy from Florida to introduce legislation that allows travelers to use PreCheck, a government program that allows low-risk travelers to board a plane, as an alternative to Real ID come Oct. 1.
Lesko said that part of the reason for introducing her bill was to draw attention to the fact that few have a Real ID and that the deadline is approaching. However, business travelers who frequent airports seem to be well-informed of the impending requirement.
“From a business traveler’s perspective, most people are getting warnings about this. I know I have,” said Pat Thompson, a frequent flyer who travels internationally for business. “I saw a banner last month about it, and a TSA worker told me I would need a Real ID by Oct. 1.”
Thompson has yet to obtain his Real ID. The obstacle of having to show up at the DMV is compounded by the fact that several states give drivers the option to renew their licenses online — but those renewed licenses are not Real ID compliant, said Stephanie Gupta, senior vice president for security and facilitation at the American Association of Airport Executives, which represents airport management.
“There are a number of states that offer both options and don’t understand that Real ID is a security mechanism,” she said. Gupta added, “If your driver’s license is expiring and you get a notice that it is time to renew, you can go online, and click, click, click — you get your driver’s license,” that is not Real ID compliant and cannot be used to board a domestic air flight come October.
Licenses that are compliant contain a star in the top-right corner on the front. But not every DMV is equipped to issue them, according to Ian Grossman, vice president of member services and public affairs at the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents DMVs.
“Throughout the country, all the states and territories are at differing stages on [Real ID] implementation,” he said. “There is no universal answer.”
Case in point: Oregon and Oklahoma have not started to issue Real IDs, even though residents in both states will need those IDs to board domestic air flights in roughly eight months.
“This is really going to be a huge problem,” Barnes warned.
