We have officially entered the Real ID era of air travel. The new rule went into effect May 7, requiring fliers to show Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents a Real ID–compliant identification when going through security at the airport. Now everyone is required to have a Real ID, passport, Global Entry card, or other form of federally compliant identification. So, what happens if you show up to the airport without the proper identification?
According to the TSA, you will generally be able to board your plane, even without a Real ID.
“As long as identity can be verified, I don’t foresee a time when we would actually deny someone entry into the sterile area,” a TSA spokesperson told Afar. “It might just take some additional time.”
But many are concerned that travelers without a Real ID could require additional time to get through security, creating security line backlogs. So far, travelers who have been to the airport since May 7 are reporting a relatively smooth process. When traveler Julie Earle-Levine flew with her son and his friend from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Orlando, Florida, on May 8, none of them had Real IDs. Earle-Levine and her son used passports, but her son’s friend had to verify his identity with his student ID. He told Earle-Levine it added about 15 minutes to his security experience.
If you’ve ever had the dreaded “SSSS” appear on your boarding pass, which stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection and can be randomly applied to any passenger ticket, you’ll understand what it might be like to travel without a Real ID. In both cases, you could be required to undergo additional security. As of now, if you don’t have an acceptable form of identification while going through TSA, you might get a red card stating that you’re not compliant and a warning to fix it by your next flight. You might also immediately have to endure extra security checks, or you’ll be pulled to the side so other passengers aren’t delayed.
Some airports have instituted measures in these first few days to make the switch more seamless: At LaGuardia, travelers without the correct ID had a separate line. Some airport employees at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport wore Real ID–branded shirts so that travelers could go to them with questions. In Tampa, Real ID compliance information signs dotted the departures hall.
Part of the issue is that while passports can be used as a stand-in, many residents in the United States don’t have a passport. According to 2024 data from the U.S. Department of State, 49 percent of Americans have one. Immigrants often have a more difficult time getting a passport, depending on their legal status. They can also find it difficult to get a Real ID because they may not have access to a birth certificate, a social security card, or other documents that can be used to prove their identity and citizenship. In that case, many people will have to bring another form of identification, such as a border-crossing card, a valid foreign passport, or an employment authorization card—or risk not traveling at all.
Largely, the 20 or so passengers we spoke with for this piece think the Real ID stress was overblown. They reported that delays at security were negligible, if they occurred at all. Passenger Carol Breen, who flew out of Dallas on May 8, used her regular driver’s license instead of a Real ID and told Afar that no one mentioned it. ”It was like it didn’t exist,” she says.
“We have a saying at the TSA that if you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen one airport,” the TSA spokesperson told Afar. “Things are going to be slightly different at every airport [and] TSA checkpoint. But what we’re hearing is fairly uniform: that everything is going pretty well without any interruptions or significant wait times.”
In a TSA statement issued on Monday, May 12, the agency noted that 81 percent of travelers already have compliant ID. The TSA spokesperson told Afar that in the future, the only people who will be turned away are those who are unable to verify their identity through other documents.
