You can travel on an airplane without ID

[yesthattom]

http://www.lookingglassnews.org/printerfriendly.php?storyid=7040

The next time I refused to produce ID and the agent freaked, I told her, “just tap up Sec-Dec 96-5 on your computer, and go to Paragraph 1, Section C. Designate me as a ‘selectee,’ and proceed accordingly. She apparently thought I was an FAA undercover employee, because she said that she was “tired of you federal guys coming around” and literally spying on airline agents, “coercing us into lying to people, and essentially being the ‘bag man’ for an activity which has no legal requirement.” I told her that I could not agree more.

Comments

[ckd]

It looks like that was originally written in the late 1990s (since the "have your bags been unattended" questions are pretty much long gone now), despite the 2006 date attached to it.

I always found it amazing how TWA 800 was used to bring on the ID requirement and get the Logan observation deck closed, myself.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Don't know why you would say that; I've still been asked about unattendance of bags every time I've flown.

[ckd]

Maybe it's because I've been doing mostly online or kiosk check-ins lately (though I seem to recall those questions being part of the process even on those at one point) but I seriously can't recall the last time I was asked either of them.

I was always tempted to say something like "yes, a man I've never met before took them away from me and put them in a locked compartment I had no access to. Also he looked and sounded foreign." That is after all an accurate description of most taxi rides to the airport....

[etler.livejournal.com]

About two years ago a friend of mine had his photo ID accidentally confiscated in Texas the day before we had to leave for California (long story). In any case, he had no way of getting it back before our plane was scheduled to leave. He showed up at the check in desk and basically said hi, I don't have an ID. How can I get on the plane? They marked his boarding pass for "special" screening which basically meant they opened his carry on and searched through it, gave him a pat down etc. Took maybe 5 minutes longer for him to get through than the rest of us.

Things may have changed in the last two years, but it sort of made me question some of Gilmore's claims at the time.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

It sounds like something written by one of those guys who is convinced that he doesn't have to pay taxes.

[smbslt.livejournal.com]

I lost my wallet the night before I was supposed to fly back to DC from Arizona in 2002 and was having a panic attack that I wouldn't be able to get home. My mother found an ancient high school ID of mine, so I had that with me, but I had no problems getting home. And I have read since then that it is possible to fly without ID, but with additional screening/questions.