If your current state ID does not look like one of the two examples above, you will have difficulty passing through TSA at the Detroit Metro Airport.
A safe flight usually begins at TSA, and beginning May 7, TSA is tightening its security measures by enforcing Real ID requirements. But what does this mean?
“Every traveler, 18 years of age and older, must have a real ID state issued driver’s license, the state issued photo identification card, or another acceptable form that is accepted by TSA,” Lorie Dankers, a spokesperson for TSA, stated.
According to Dankers, if your State ID does not look like the two examples above (with the star in the upper right corner), you do not have a valid ID.
“They can expect to have delays at the security check point and the length of the delay will be determined by the number of people around them who also do not have a compliant form of ID,” Dankers told the audience.
So, what would the delay look like?
“Yeah so that question is really still up in the air of what the enforcement will look like,” Dankers replied. “I want people to know they will be able to travel. There will be a phased enforcement approach, and we are still determining what that will look like.
According to Dankers, there are other acceptable forms of ‘Real IDs’. The TSA website contains a list, which includes a US passport or an enhanced driver’s license. Beverly Vines of Michigan says that, while it is not required, she obtained the enhanced license years ago because it counts as a Real ID and allows her to cross the United States border.
“It was very easy to get, you had to pay a little extra for it, but it was very easy to get,” Vines told me.
Celeste Humitz says she also chose the enhanced license.
“I think it makes us all safer, actually,” Celeste said.
According to Dankers, the goal is to make things safer, so she recommends becoming Real ID compliant as soon as possible.
“The deadline is May 7th but you can do it after that as long as you are doing it before you are catching a flight, right?” I asked her.
“That’s a great point,” Dankers said. “We know that not every American is going to be flying on May 7th and so, look at your travel plans, look at when you think you may be traveling if you don’t have those plans already.”
