Passports to Fly Within the USA?

by John Webber

The TSA may soon require Passports for residents of 9 States boarding Domestic Flights Within the U.S.

As of next year, 22 January 2018, residents of nine states may need a passport to board any flight, domestic or international, according to new U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) guidelines.

The nine states are Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington. Each of these states do not currently issue a state ID or state driver’s license that lives up to Federal ID minimum security requirements, according to the REAL ID Act of 2005. That means these nine states have a few months left to make changes to their state IDs or drivers licenses so that they may meet federal government standards. Otherwise, if you are a resident of the mentioned states and currently have that state’s ID or driver’s license then you will need to apply for or renew a passport (or at the very least, find yours, wherever you stashed it after the last international trip) before passing through TSA and getting on a commercial airplane to fly to another U.S. city.

Other forms of ID that will work are Permanent Resident Cards (U.S. green cards) or USA Military IDs.

Some of the mentioned states are in the process of updating their ID situations before January 22, so that you might not need a passport to fly – please check with your local state government for current news updates. It takes four to six weeks to get a passport request processed, so it wouldn’t hurt to start planning ahead now.

“Do not go where the path leads, travel instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”   @wbbrjp

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