Forgot your ID? No Real ID? The TSA will charge you $45 starting Sunday
Travelers who don't bring the right ID to the airport will face a steep fee beginning this weekend.
Starting Sunday, Feb. 1, the Transportation Security Administration will begin charging certain flyers $45 for the right to pass through its security checkpoints.
The new fees will apply to passengers who fail to bring a Real ID or one of the many alternatives the government accepts.
Travelers who lose their ID while traveling — or forget it at home — will also have to pay the fee in order to clear security.
Who will have to pay the TSA's new $45 fee?
First announced in December, these $45 fees are considered the TSA's latest step in enforcing Real ID — the higher-caliber, more uniform standard for driver's licenses that became the requirement at airports last spring.
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These new fees should only affect a tiny sliver of the traveling public.
As of last month, the TSA estimated around 94% of travelers had either a Real ID or one of the other forms of identification the agency accepts in its place, including a passport, Global Entry card or military ID.
However, the few passengers who don't have the right ID will now have to pay up if they want to fly.
How the TSA's new security fee works
Going forward, the TSA plans to use a higher-caliber identity verification program called "Confirm ID" to validate passengers who show up at the airport without the right type of ID — or any at all.
Travelers can make payments at TSA.gov/ConfirmID.
Then, they'll have to get back in line and show a receipt to the TSA officer before they'll be allowed to proceed. The agency expects the whole process will take 30 minutes or more.
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Forgot your ID? You can pay in advance
Important note: If you know you don't have an acceptable ID, you can pay your $45 fee in advance to save time at the airport. Once you do that, you can proceed to the security checkpoint like normal — just be sure to have your receipt pulled up.
The agency argues that these new fees will help cover the cost of the extra screening for the relatively small number of passengers who don't meet its ID requirements.
Good for 10 days
The TSA does note that paying the $45 fee doesn't guarantee you access to the secure side of the airport terminal. So, if the TSA, for some reason, still can't verify your identity via its new process, you would not be allowed to clear security. (Essentially, you're paying for the screening; it's not a free pass through the checkpoint.)
The fees are nonrefundable but cover you for 10 days once you pay. So, you wouldn't have to pay $90 round-trip for a short out-and-back journey.
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