Real ID brings confusion and surprise but relatively few problems at SoCal airports
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Travelers arriving at security checkpoints at Southern California airports on Wednesday were greeted with signs posing a pressing question: “Are you Real ID ready?”
After two decades of delays and government messaging, Wednesday marked Real ID deadline day for Americans who planned to board a domestic flight. Travelers are now required to show the federally compliant Real ID or another approved form of identification such as a passport to pass through airport security.
Those who flashed federally approved identification — aimed at enhancing security at airports nationwide — sailed through checkpoints without delay. Travelers without it faced a few hoops and, at times, a little bit of public embarrassment before they could board their flights.
Some were just thoroughly confused by the whole situation. “I don’t get it,” one woman said to the Transportation Security Administration agent escorting her through security at Los Angeles International Airport. “What does the Real ID even do?”
Eventually, officials warn, people could be turned away from security checkpoints and unable to take their trips without the required identification. But it’s not clear when that could happen.
“We’re going to try to continue to educate the public on what they can travel with if they do not have Real ID-compliant identification,” said Jason Pantages, the Transportation Security Administration’s federal security director. “I think what we want to do right now is focus on not having an impact, most importantly, to the people that are Real ID-compliant and then making sure that folks that do not have Real ID are still able to get through security.”
By 9:15 a.m., the first passengers without Real IDs began arriving at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, with several unaware of the day’s deadline.
The deadline to comply with the Real ID law is May 7, and experts say travelers should expect delays.
One traveler handed his driver’s license to an agent in the security line, informing her that he only learned 10 minutes earlier at the American Airlines bag drop that he needed to have a Real ID. In response, the agent handed him a paper akin to a traveler’s scarlet letter — a red slip that read “The ID you presented is not Real ID-compliant” — which he had to carry through the duration of the security check.
The warning stated that he’d need a Real ID for his next flight or he “may expect delays.”
He dropped his head, laughed nervously and was guided by another TSA agent through a body scan. The man, now a bit red in the face, grabbed his carry-on bag and walked briskly to his gate.
Around noon at LAX, travelers without acceptable identification in the Terminal 7 security line waited around a minute to get through the checkpoint. Officials say not everyone without a Real ID was subject to additional screening, but people who lacked a Real ID should plan to arrive at airports early.
Patrick Kingsley, 43, thought he asked to upgrade to a Real ID when he got his license renewed a few months ago, but his card did not have the state signature gold bear with a star denoting Real ID status when he approached the security checkpoint Wednesday.
“This is the first I’ve heard about it [not being a Real ID],” he said. “I had no idea.”
Other travelers were equally unaware.
“It’s today?” one woman asked, perplexed by the deadline. “I didn’t know this was a thing.”
There had been concerns leading up to the deadline that travelers might be turned away and unable to board their flights without the Real ID or another form of accepted identification, leading to mass chaos at airports. But TSA officials said that situation had not come to pass.
“We’ve had zero issues,” Pantages said. Officials did not have specific data about the number of travelers without Real IDs at airports on Wednesday.
About half of Californians still don’t have their Real ID. Here’s what you need to know about how not having one may affect your travel plans.
TSA officials said, in general, that about 81% of travelers at TSA checkpoints present acceptable identification, including a state-issued Real ID. Some airport employees reported seeing more passengers with passports for domestic flights than usual.
Orange County resident Brittny Lee, 25, waited about four minutes to get to the front of the security line at John Wayne for her trip to visit family in Nashville on Wednesday morning.
As she handed her Real ID to a TSA agent, a recording of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem advising travelers of the enhanced identification deadline played in the background. Lee, an email marketer, was unaware of the deadline and unbothered, having gotten hers about a decade ago.
“I guess it does make some sense why people might not have IDs,” she said. “I mean, nobody wants to stand in line at the DMV.”
The Real ID rollout has been years in the making in the United States. Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005, establishing specific requirements for states issuing IDs that make them harder to counterfeit and calls for enhanced verification of the information contained on the cards. The law stems from a 9/11 Commission recommendation that the federal government establish a nationwide standard for identification at a time when national security was top of mind for many Americans.
“I think it’s going to enhance security at our airports because before, you could board a plane with a regular old driver’s license and it’s been possible for people to get driver’s licenses in false names,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief executive of Advanced Operational Concepts, a global security consulting firm. “This has a more stringent requirement to prove you are who you say you are.”
The California Department of Motor Vehicles is opening some offices an hour early this spring to help people who have not yet obtained a Real ID before the May deadline.
But not all states were on board with the approach at first. Many state governments pushed back, citing increased costs, privacy concerns and the burden that the IDs would place on certain groups, such as the unhoused, to provide the extra documentation necessary to get the identification. The initial deadline of May 2008 was pushed back as the federal government negotiated with the states.
By 2020, most states, including California, had started rolling out Real IDs. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the deadline was delayed once again. In late 2022, the Department of Homeland Security said state motor vehicle departments needed more time to deal with the backlog of applications and set the final deadline for May 2025.
Despite years of messaging, some citizens have resisted applying for the new IDs, wary of handing over that much data to the government.
“When a government implements any kind of policy from the top down, which is the federal level, and it’s not explained from the bottom up, then there is a lot of distrust,” said Faith Bradley, a teaching assistant professor of information systems at George Washington University.
Bradley, who wrote her doctoral dissertation on the Real ID Act, suspects that many Americans will opt to travel with their passport or other forms of acceptable identification rather than obtain a Real ID.
In late April — just weeks away from the deadline — a report from CBS News revealed that more than half of the states in the country were less than 70% compliant in issuing the IDs.
For weeks, DMV offices across the country have been packed with people rushing to get a Real ID before the deadline. About 19.4 million Californians have a Real ID, which is about 58% of all driver’s licenses and ID cardholders, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Some, such as Sharon Alden, are still waiting for their Real IDs to arrive in their mailboxes.
The 73-year-old Redding resident said she went to the DMV a month ago to file the necessary paperwork for the ID, but it did not arrive before her flight.
“I’m hoping it’s there when I get home,” she said, holding up a printed copy of her DMV receipt and temporary license. “But everything is going really smooth, which is nice.”
Times staff writer Karen Garcia contributed to this report.
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