Travelers Without REAL ID Will Face Extra Screening, But Can Still Travel

The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, said on Tuesday that travelers without a REAL ID will still be allowed to fly after Wednesday’s deadline.

“People will still be allowed to fly,” Noem said. “We will make sure it’s as seamless as possible.”

The announcement offers relief for travelers who may be unprepared for the change, which has been in the works for nearly two decades, or who are unaware of it.

The good news is that a majority of travelers are ready: according to Noem, 81% of Americans now have a compliant ID, whether a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification, such as a passport or tribal ID.

There had been growing concern in recent weeks that, despite a major consumer awareness campaign—and multiple extensions of the deadline over the years—some travelers would arrive at security checkpoints on Wednesday morning only to be turned away by TSA officers for lacking a REAL ID.

According to Noem, those travelers without compliant IDs will face additional scrutiny at checkpoints—although she did not detail what that will involve, likely a separate security line—but they will ultimately still be allowed to fly. Those without REAL IDs should show up at the airport earlier in order to account for the extra steps.

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, was born out of recommendations by the 9/11 Commission and established minimum security standards for state-issued identification.

Since then, implementation has been plagued by stops and starts. In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, DHS delayed enforcement indefinitely, later setting a new deadline of October 1, 2020. That deadline was pushed back another year to October 1, 2021, and then delayed again by 19 months due to ongoing pandemic impacts. In 2023, DHS announced a final 24-month extension.

REAL ID-compliant licenses and ID cards are typically marked with a symbol—most often a star—on the top portion of the card to indicate compliance.