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.

Your rights at the airport

Nothing in the REAL-ID Act will change any of your rights at airports or TSA checkpoints. See our FAQ: What you need to know about your rights at the airport. Some key points:

• Record video and audio of what happens at the checkpoint or in any encounter with the TSA or police. The TSA and/or police who get involved may lie about what happens. You have the right to film the TSA and police, although the TSA claims the authority to prevent you from filming the displays on their imaging machines for people and baggage. Consider using a separate digital camera or using a backup phone (an old phone, factory reset, with no data on it and no SIM card, can work well for this purpose) to film and record what happens at the checkpoint, to reduce the risk that you’ll lose your primary phone, and the data on it, if checkpoint staff or police snatch your phone while you’re recording them.  See this primer for more on protecting your data from cops and robbers when you are traveling.
• If checkpoint staff or police want to search your phone, camera, laptop, or any of your papers or documents, invoke your rights under the Privacy Protection Act. Say loudly and clearly, on camera if possible, “This device contains material I intend to disseminate to the public, and is protected by the Privacy Protection Act. You could be personally liable for damages if you search this device without a warrant.”
• You have the right to remain silent. If you don’t state your name, you probably won’t be allowed to proceed through the checkpoint, but don’t answer unnecessary questions from checkpoint staff or police.

Denial of passage at a TSA checkpoint

If the TSA refuses to let you go through the checkpoint because they decide your ID is insufficient, they aren’t able to “verify” your ID, or you aren’t sufficiently cooperative with their ID verification procedures, you may have the basis for a lawsuit against the TSA.

There is no precedent for such a lawsuit, because in court the TSA has always claimed that airline passengers are not required to show ID. We think you have the right to fly without ID, but we don’t know what the courts will say. A “case of first impression” like this can be slow, expensive, and risky.

The law makes it difficult to challenge the TSA in court. The better the documentation you have, and the clearer the record of the TSA’s decision not to allow you to fly, the better chance you will have in court.

If you don’t have REAL-ID, the TSA may ask you to fill out ans sign TSA Form 415, “Certification of Identity”. This form is unapproved and illegal. If you are given a copy of Form 415 to fill out, keep it as evidence and send us a copy, so we can share the latest version. The Paperwork Reduction Act provides an absolute defense against any sanctions  for failing to fill out an unapproved Federal government form, but this has not been tested in court in the context of TSA checkpoints and Form 145. In practice, if you are asked to fill out Form 415, and decline to do so, you won’t be allowed to fly.

If you are told you won’t be allowed to fly, or told to leave the checkpoint, (1) exhaust any possibility of appeals to higher TSA authority at the airport, and (2) get as much documentation as you can of the order not to proceed or to leave the checkpoint.

Ask for the name, title, and affiliation of the person telling you that you can’t fly. Ask them to put the order in writing, sign it, and print their name below their signature. They probably won’t, but ask anyway. Photograph their badge, ID, or business card, if they show you any of these. If they won’t show a legible ID, ask them to state and spell their name, and title, and agency affiliation slowly, on camera. Ask them, on camera, “Are you ordering me not to proceed through this checkpoint? Is there anyone to whom I can appeal? Is this the final order of the TSA? What is the basis for this order?”

Only a “final order” of the TSA can be appealed in court, so it’s important to document that you have exhausted any available administrative appeals and have been given a final order. The chances of success for even a well-founded lawsuit are poor. So if you plan to challenge the TSA in court, it’s important to have the strongest possible evidence.

If the person telling you that you can’t fly  works for a contractor, such as Covenant Aviation Security at the checkpoints at San Francisco International Airport, ask them (on camera) to speak to a TSA employee. If they work for the TSA, ask (on camera) to speak to their supervisor. If a TSA supervisor orders you not to proceed, ask (on camera) to speak to the Federal Security Supervisor or their designee on duty. The FSD or their designee on duty (typically wearing civilian clothes rather than a paramilitary uniform) is the highest TSA authority at each airport. If any of them tells you that no further appeal is possible, get that on camera, and ask them again, on camera, “Is this the final order of the TSA? Who is issuing this order? What is the basis for this order?”

If police get involved, assert your rights. Don’t talk to the police. Ask if you are being detained. If you are being detained, say, “I’m going to remain silent. I want to talk to a lawyer. I don’t consent to any search.” Normally, you would also say, “I want to leave”, but in these circumstances that might be taken as voluntarily asking to leave the airport, and might thus compromise your right to contest the refusal to let you fly. Instead, you could ask, “Am I free to go on through the checkpoint?”

Local police at airports have no authority to enforce TSA regulations. If they arrest you, they will probably (1) trump up some alleged violation of local law to support the arrest, and (2) make up false reports or statements to justify the false arrest. Video and audio recordings are likely to be critical in defending yourself against false changes like these. If you are arrested at a TSA checkpoint because you don;t have REAL-ID, please let us know.

Airline demands for ID or REAL-ID

Some airlines won’t sell you a ticket unless you enter an ID number and issuing entity in your reservation. Airlines generally check ID before they issue a boarding pass or accept checked baggage. The legality of these airline demands for ID has not been tested in court.

Airlines have no easy way to tell whether a driver’s license number entered in a reservation is or isn’t REAL-ID compliant. You can usually avoid airline ID checks by printing your own boarding pass at home, or downloading it on your smartphone, and not trying to check bags.

We’ve seen no indication from any US airline that they will begin requiring REAL-ID to make reservations, to issue boarding passes, or to check bags, for flights on May 7th or after. But we don’t know what airlines will do, especially once they see what happens on May 7th.

If an airline refuses to accept a reservation for a domestic US flight, refuses to check you in, or refuses to check your bags because your ID isn’t REAL-ID compliant:

1.  Appeal the decision not to let you fly with noncompliant ID.  The ultimate authority for an airline is the “station manager” for that airline for that airport or their designee on duty.
2. Document what happened: who made the decision, what was the claimed basis for the decision, etc. Get the order refusing to allow you to fly in writing. Tell them you need documentation of the basis for the denial for your refund claim. Ask them to add a “remark” in the PNR (reservation record) noting that you were denied, including the basis for the denial and the person responsible for the denial.
3. Contact us and let us know what happened. If any airline starts trying enforce a requirement for REAL-ID, independently of the TSA, we want to hear about it.

Delays, missed flights, refunds, and change fees

Some airline passengers without REAL-ID will probably be delayed long enough at TSA checkpoints on May 7th and after that they will miss their ticketed flights.

Some of these passengers may want a refund, if the purpose of the trip is defeated by the delay. Others may still want to travel on the next flight on which space is available.

We don’t know how each airline will handle these passengers. If you miss your flight because of REAL-ID security theater, please let us know what the airline did. Did they:

1. Put you on the next flight with space available, without additional charge?
2. Put you on the next flight, for a change fee?
3. Give you a full refund in the original form of payment?
4. Give you refund minus a cancellation penalty?
5. Give you airline credit (usable only with the airline, not in cash) for the full amount you paid?
6. Give you airline credit, minus a cancellation fee?

If you still want to fly, a full refund of what you paid for your original ticket may not be enough to buy a new ticket for the next flight. It’s generally less costly to get your ticket changed or reissued than to get a full refund and buy a new ticket at a last-minute fare.

Whether to try to cancel your reservations if you are delayed long enough that you know you will miss your flight is a difficult decision. If you don’t cancel your reservations before your flight departs, the airline might say that you have forfeited any refund as a”no-show”. But if you cancel your reservations, the airline might say that the cancellation was “voluntary” and that you aren’t entitled to an “involuntary refund”.

Standard airline contracts (“conditions of carriage” included in airline “tariffs”) used to provide that if you were denied boarding by airline or government order, you were entitled to a full and unconditional “involuntary refund” in the original form of payment.

If you want a refund rather than rebooking on another flight, ask for a full refund under the provisions of the conditions of carriage for “involuntary refunds”.

Many airlines have changed their conditions of carriage to require that passengers show “acceptable” ID on demand, and to exclude denial of transport by government order from their provisions for involuntary refunds. The legality of these airline ID requirements and refund (or non-refund) provisions has not been tested yet in US courts.

Can the Identity Project represent me in court?

We’re a think tank, not a law firm. This FAQ and the rest of our website aren’t advice from lawyers. We’re always looking for lawyers, legal organizations, and legal clinics interested in working on these issues. If you might be able to help, please get in touch.

We can help publicize violations of travelers’ rights, provide information so other travelers without REAL-ID can know what to expect and how to prepare and protect themselves, and provide expert assistance and technical support to travelers and lawyers representing travelers. Please share your stories!