TSA to charge non-compliant travelers starting Feb. 1

Vacationers, be warned: Beginning Feb. 1, you may need to pay a fee of $45 or more for going by means of airport safety checkpoints without a Real ID or one other acceptable journey doc.

“That is not nothing,” John Breyault, vice chairman of public coverage, telecommunications and fraud on the Nationwide Shoppers League, a client advocacy group, stated of the price. “When you ever wanted a cause to get a Actual ID-compliant ID, now’s the time.”

The Real ID card is an upgraded driver’s license or state identification card that officers say carries extra stringent safety and helps stop fraudulent identification. It’s state-issued and marked with a star.

The federal authorities started requiring vacationers to have a Actual ID — or one other doc like a U.S. passport or passport card — to board a home flight, or enter sure federal amenities or nuclear energy crops as of Could 7, 2025.

Nonetheless, Feb. 1 marks the primary time the Transportation Safety Administration will impose a price to implement the rule.

Vacationers ages 18 and older with out an acceptable travel document might want to pay $45 to make use of an non-obligatory different id verification system — known as TSA ConfirmID — to fly.

Roughly 6% of vacationers don’t have a REAL ID or different acceptable type of identification, the TSA stated in December when it introduced the price.

“That is actually an enforcement mechanism,” stated Sally French, a journey skilled at NerdWallet. “It is an actual penalty for vacationers who arrive unprepared.”

Verification within the ConfirmID system is valid for a 10-day travel period, in response to the TSA.

Passing by means of a TSA checkpoint outdoors that 10-day interval would require paying the TSA ConfirmID price once more, an company spokesperson stated in an e-mail. In that state of affairs, a traveler on an extended journey may pay $90 complete.

“When you go to Honolulu for 2 weeks, you might have to pay on the way in which again, too,” Breyault stated. “If it wasn’t unhealthy sufficient to be nickel-and-dimed by the airways, now you are getting nickel-and-dimed by the TSA.”

They will go to tsa.gov/ConfirmID, after which present their pay.gov receipt — a printout or screenshot — and any government-issued ID to the airport TSA officer, the company stated.

Vacationers may also pay the price on-site. However TSA recommends that vacationers pay the price on-line earlier than journey. Failure to take action could lead to delays and missed flights, the TSA stated.

“It is vital that airline vacationers plan forward to make sure they’ve an appropriate type of ID to keep away from these extra delays, as the method can take as much as half-hour,” in response to the TSA.

Congress handed the Real ID Act in 2005. The legislation set minimal safety requirements for state-issued driver’s licenses and ID playing cards within the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults.

Breyault stated he understands why the federal government would select to impose a price: It is a great way to encourage individuals to adjust to the Actual ID requirement, he stated.

Nonetheless, the burden will fall hardest on low- to moderate-income vacationers and households with older kids, he stated. A household of 4, for instance, would possibly pay greater than $200 to fly, assuming the youngsters are at the very least 18 years outdated and the journey is longer, Breyault stated.

TSA does not require kids below 18 to offer identification when touring throughout the U.S., even when they’re traveling alone, the company stated. Every airline units its personal ID requirements, in response to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Breyault’s recommendation to customers: “Properly prematurely of your journey, be sure that to get a Actual ID-compliant ID out of your [department of motor vehicles], and if you do not have it, be sure you have one of many different acceptable types of ID.”

Actual ID prices differ by state. In New Jersey, it costs $35 to get a Actual ID, for instance.

TSA estimates vacationers will use the ConfirmID program about 10.6 million occasions over the subsequent 5 years.

The $45 price will generate about $476 million in income, meant to offset administrative prices throughout that point, the company stated in a report issued Dec. 2.

Adam Stahl, a senior official performing the duties of deputy TSA administrator, stated in recent press release that the price would guarantee “non-compliant vacationers, not taxpayers, cowl the price of processing vacationers with out acceptable IDs.”

In a Nov. 13 report, the TSA initially estimated vacationers would wish to pay an $18 price — lower than half the ultimate price — to cowl administrative bills.

Requested for touch upon the charges, a TSA spokesperson did not specify why the estimate modified in a matter of weeks.

The TSA plans to reevaluate its price construction each two years “to account for evolving circumstances and charges of compliance,” the spokesperson stated in an e-mail.