What can you do if you aren’t allowed to fly without REAL-ID?
On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to start treating driver’s licenses and state IDs that don’t comply with the REAL-ID Act as “unacceptable” ID at TSA checkpoints. That doesn’t mean that travelers without REAL-ID won’t be allowed to fly. What the TSA has said is that it will subject travelers without REAL-ID on or after May 7th to its current procedures for airline passengers with no ID or unacceptable ID.
In a sample of incident logs and reports released in response to one of our Freedom Of Information Act requests, 98% of the airline passengers who showed up at TSA checkpoints with no ID or unacceptable ID were allowed to fly after additional “security theater”.
But given the numbers of people without REAL-ID, even 2% of those who try to fly without REAL-ID could be a significant number. And if you’re the one being told, “You can’t fly today”, any number of unlawful and denials of your right to travel is significant.
Some people without REAL-ID will be turned away illegally at TSA checkpoints. Others will be delayed for so long that they miss their flights. Of that latter group, some will be denied refunds by airlines, or told they have to pay change fees to fly on later flights.
What are your rights at the airport? What can you do if you are turned away by the TSA because you don’t have REAL-ID, delayed and miss your flight, or denied a refund or charged a fee to change a flight you missed because of TSA delays and ID checks?
This isn’t advice from lawyers, but it’s practical advice about what to do to protect your rights and maximize your chances if you later take the TSA or an airline to court.