HELP

[barbtries]

my 16-year-old son is due to fly out from NC to WA and on to CA tomorrow. he does not drive. we moved to NC from CA last Oct but he never got a picture taken for a school ID and now we can't find his ID from he former school. i am panicking. does anybody know of a way to get a picture ID in less than 24 hours? or will the airlines let a 16-year-old fly without a picture ID?

thanks for any help you can provide.

[Lars39]

1. Could he get a photo id at the DMV?

You might be able to choose one fairly near you that isn't too busy.

[Breeze54]

2. Have you tried your DMV for a state ID? Talk to the branch manager...

maybe they have a way to put a 'rush' on it?

Good luck! What a bummer.

[Breeze54]

4. PS. They'll issue a paper one... they do in MA ... see if that would be acceptable!

The plastic laminated cards usually take a week or so via snail mail and then you get a cardboard
copy as a temp ID while you wait for the real one in the mail. See if the temp one is allowed!
Also have him carry his ORIGINAL and/or CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATE with him as back up!

[leftofcool]

3. I think your local tag office or DMV can help

[ret5hd]

5. From what i've read, no photo id doesn't mean you can't fly...

but you will be searched...extensively

on edit:
details here:
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~daw/faa/noid.html

Flying without ID
Today I just got back from a trip to the East Coast. I flew both ways, and never showed ID. I thought I'd report on my experience.

First, flying without showing ID is apparently easy, if you know the trick. When you check in and they ask for photo ID, just say "I'll be flying as a selectee today." This is an exception to the photo ID requirement (usually for folks who've lost or forgotten their ID, but they don't check). If you ask about selectee stuff, they'll deny it, but if you already know the game, it seems you can take advantage of it quite easily.

Apparently the clerks are quite used to it; I never even got a funny look. (Just a brief question -- "you forget your ID?" -- "yup.")

The huge downside is that they'll call a security guard to come hand-check your bags. The searches seem to be very perfunctory (never looked at my laptop, never noticed the bulky electric shaver I put between layers of clothes to prevent it from getting banged around). Also, the security precautions are terrible -- once you have your bags searched, you get your boarding pass, and are free to wander around until boarding, so I could easily have put my bags in a locker, checked in, retrieved my bags, and walked on the plane. (I wonder if doing that to avoid a search would be illegal.)

Still, I consider a hand search better than a ID requirement (especially when I know that it's coming, and am not carrying anything sensitive). The hand search results aren't tied into some huge computer database; the ID is.

Be warned that the airline is apparently not required to carry you when you fly as a selectee, and if you act even slightly suspiciously, I would expect them to turn you down. I flew clean-shaven, in a Princeton shirt, and was polite to a point; I'm sure that helped. Don't do anything to attract a manager; they're more likely to be suspicious, I think.

So far, I've only tried it twice, so I don't know how reliable it is. Have a backup plan. (Remember, there are several places you can check in, and they probably don't communicate. Also, consider carrying ID just in case.)

I checked in at the gate both times, because I didn't have any baggage to check. I'm told that you can still fly selectee if you have checked baggage -- and they don't hand-search your baggage -- but I think they will probably do positive bag matching. (A good way to make sure your bags are the last ones on the plane and thus the first ones off, so you can leave the destination airport as fast as possible!)

I flew on tickets purchased with a check. It says so on the ticket. I don't know whether they took that into consideration; I will try flying selectee with a ticket purchased in cash in the future.

[Breeze54]

6. Wrong! New Rules!! ---- TSA bans ID-less flight

June 9, 2008 11:23 AM PDT

Your papers please: TSA bans ID-less flight

Posted by Chris Soghoian

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9962760-7.html

In a major change of policy, the Transportation Security Administration has announced that passengers refusing to show ID will no longer be able to fly. The policy change, announced on Thursday afternoon, will go into force on June 21, and will only affect passengers who refuse to produce ID. Passengers who claim to have lost or forgotten their proof of identity will still be able to fly.

:eyes:

As long as TSA has existed, passengers have been able to fly without showing ID to government agents. Doing so would result in a secondary search (a pat down and hand search of your carry-on bag), but passengers were still permitted to board their flights. In some cases, taking advantage of this right to refuse ID came with fringe benefits--being bumped to the front of the checkpoint queue.

For a few years after September 11, 2001, TSA's policies when it came to flying without ID were somewhat fuzzy. The agency, like many other parts of the Bush Administration, has hidden behind the shroud of classification--in TSA's case, labeling everything Sensitive Security Information.

Seeking to clarify the rules, activist John Gilmore took the U.S. government to court in 2004. Gilmore chose to take a particularly hard line, by refusing to show ID to TSA and also by refusing to undergo the more thorough "secondary screening" search. He eventually lost his case before the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
While the judges were not willing to let Gilmore avoid the secondary screening search, they did at least recognize the right to travel without showing ID--providing that passengers are willing to be subject to a pat down and a bit of probing:

"The identification policy requires that airline passengers either present identification or be subjected to a more extensive search. The more extensive search is similar to searches that we have determined were reasonable and consistent with a full recognition of appellants constitutional right to travel."

Since then, in at least two letters to citizens, TSA has re-affirmed this right. In March 2008, a TSA official wrote that:

"If a traveler is unwilling or unable to produce a valid form of ID, the traveler is required to undergo additional screening at the checkpoint to gain access to the secured area of the airport."

More......

[ret5hd]

7. Did you read past the headline???

[Breeze54]

8. Do you mean before you edited your response? ... ah... Why, yes, I did.

Why are you being so snarky so early in the morning?

Your first reply, before the edit, said that it wasn't a problem.

:eyes:

[ret5hd]

9. before my edit mine said yes you could...but you are gonna be searched...

yours said yes you could...but you are gonna be searched.

my edit was providing the article.

but i'm done. whatever.

[barbtries]

10. okay, so this is the part i needed to see:

"Passengers who claim to have lost or forgotten their proof of identity will still be able to fly."

i am sick about this. when we moved, my folder full of vital papers (ie, birth certificates, ss cards, death certificates, etc) did not come with us. i don't even know if it's in storage or if it got left in the old apt. i got my dupe SS card to get a job. for my son, i don't KNOW if we'll have time to do the SS office, or if the documentation they'll give me, which is just a piece of paper that says the SS card is in the mail, will work, and then get to the DMV in time to make it to the airport!

not to mention that i'm so pissed with him i could cry. i told him days ago to get his ID. he never even looked until this morning. it's just gonna be such a drag if they don't let him on.

i also just checked AA's webpage and it indicates that kids 18 and over must have a photo ID. he's only 16, and i do have his birth certificate.

thanks to everyone for helping out. i'm going to do what i can and if worst comes to worst, power him onto the plane without ID. that should work.

sigh. it'll work out. one way or another, it's bound to work out.

[Medusa]

11. State ID is the way to go on this one.

Check your DMV to see what the requirements are.

[barbtries]

12. thanks, a lot

the state ID would work, if only i had his SS card! crap, i'm so bummed. so now i'm thinking, we have until 1 pm tomorrow to get to the airplane. we'll open the SS office and get a duplicate working, then on to the DMV for the picture ID. the big question is will i be able to make all that happen tomorrow...all i have is a copy of his birth certificate and correspondence from his school and so on.

i really appreciate people being so helpful. i duped the post due to the computer hanging not purposely.