Yes. I had my wallet stolen in Memphis in 2010. I did still have my printed boarding pass. I had to fill out a form at the checkpoint and answer some weird questions. I got scanned, bags searched by hand, and a very aggressive pat-down, but I got on the plane.
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It happens, it is an official policy, but yeah capriciousness is a very real threat.
It takes longer, is more invasive, probably puts you on a list, and you canāt have a beer at the bar.
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Thatās exactly what it is (at least for me). It just doesnāt make sense to call it a driverās license when you arenāt licensed to drive. People always say ādriverās licenseā (because āIDā is so much more complicated?) but saying ālicense to not driveā is weird.
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The poster mentioned that their situation was in Illinois and that in this state, we have a state ID option which looks very similar to a drivers license but obviously isnāt, and itās a little cheaper. You still have to go to a Secretary of State facility to get it, with all the same proofs of identity/address. So, thereās no need to get a drivers license specifically, whether marked ānot allowed to driveā or not.
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Thank you.
Californiaās DMV provides driverās licenses, and ID cards.
[quote=āanon61221983, post:112, topic:71305, full:trueā]Okay. Any other documented cases of people flying without IDs?
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Yes. My wifeās purse was stolen while she was traveling. She is neither white nor male, but the TSA allowed her to fly home after answering a few questions.
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Okay. So, now we seem to have plenty of anecdotal evidence of people traveling without IDs, but having to submit to extra scrutiny to do so, contrary to Gilmoreās experiences, where he was not allowed to travel via airplane without an ID.
So, what does that mean, exactly? Are we allowed freedom of movement via air, or not? Does the extra scrutiny stop some?
The extra scrutiny does stop some. Basically they have databases to try and confirm who you say you are, via questions. Think āi forgot my passwordā type, but you donāt get to choose them. If you answer them wrong, or you just arenāt in the dbās, then you are SOL.
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It means if you forget or lose your ID when you travel, you should expect delays, questions, paperwork, and aggravation.
Yes. You need to provide identificationāor more accurately, provide the means with which you can be identifiedāif you want to fly. If you canāt, well, thereās always Amtrak, Greyhound, or your thumb.
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Well, except for all the people who are on the no-fly list, which we canāt seeā¦ so thereās that. Plus, if you arenāt in the DB, as @japhroaig says, youāre SOL.
The extra scrutiny, etc, to fly within your own country still rubs me the wrong way. Itās an act of control that corporations and the government should not have, IMHO. And of course, if you have the $$$ and social power, you can just opt out, anyway, so itās just for us plebes.
I do understand that people need to fly, for various reasons, but thatās part of the reason they can get away with these acts of social control, because people need to fly for work, or pleasure, or because a family member died and you canāt really get out of it.
So I donāt know. It still means weāre not as free as weād like to be in regards to air travel. Which on top of everything else, is getting more expensive and frustrating, even without the TSA.
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I completely agree, it isnāt right. I donāt need an id to ride in a car. The reason for planes is simply political optics.
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Maybe another potentially helpful bit of info is that one doesnāt have to go to the Post Office, either. All of the Post Offices around us had waiting lists for appointments. We instead went to a branch of our county library with no appointment. Sometimes City Halls will process them as well.
This is if you arenāt in a hurry, though ā but despite another comment, I think 6-8 weeks is more realistic, not 6 mos. But I guess YMMV.
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Thatās how I got my first one, then because it was a ten year passport I forgot it had expired a week before going to Asia. I kinda freaked out 
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Yup. I was flying to Texas with a bunch of people for a show and one in our party somehow got to the airport without bringing her ID. It was a little added trouble, but they let her on the plane and let her fly back from Texas, so Iāve seen it done.
ETA: Ah, Iām late to the party on this one.
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My father-in-law, two weekends ago, BUR->SAC. White male, left his wallet on the plane on the way into town (airline later found & returned itt, but not until after he got back home). TSA asked him a number of interesting questions, eg āwhat was the make & model of car you had before your current carā, & similar questions about prior addresses which they were presumably checking against DMV records. It actually seemed like a halfway sensible process, as far as ensuring he was who he said he was. And a patdown, and having his hand luggage hand-searched as well as the usual x-ray (he had no checked luggage so donāt know what they would have done about that). Took about 40 minutes longer than the usual non-pre TSA.
That could also be coming from the credit bureaus. Iām reasonably certain the TSA have that data. I donāt know whether itās direct-access or if our credit history has been imported into their special database, but they do ask those kinds of questions. I suspect the latter, since they seem to have data about me that should have long since expired from my credit history.
Up-thread I alluded to āweird questionsā that they asked me in 2010 when I had my wallet stolen. One of the things they asked me was where RatWoman worked and what she did. After a couple more questions in the same vein, it was obvious that they guy wasnāt liking my answers, and thatās when it clicked.
I was married previously. RatWoman the First died in 1999. Iāve been with RatWoman the Second since 2005. (Remember, this is in 2010.) They were asking me questions about RatWoman the First and I was answering with RatWoman the Secondās information. Once we cleared that up, it went fine. They asked me a half-dozen more questions and got the right answers, and I was cleared through.
Later I started wondering why those questions, and why the database was not up to date. It occurred to me that there is a massive amount of RatWoman 1ās info still attached to my credit history (clearing up her estate was a mess, and only finished a couple of years ago) and almost nothing about RatWoman 2. (By contrast, her personal history is somewhat checkered, and as a result, she takes pains to keep a very low profile.)
Itās interesting (and not in a good way) how much information they have on us. And how much bad information there is along with the good. Itās kind of scary to think that, as fucked up as Experian and Transunion are, they might be providing the government with information that controls whether I can travel or not.
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Yeah. Isnāt this part of the problem? If these organizations (and by extenstion, the government) didnāt have this information on us, would we be allowed to travel on a plane? Is this something we should be concerned with? Seems like that might be a yesā¦ but I supposed everyones MMVā¦
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Only people that never leave America donāt have passports. Do we care about the rights of those inbred folks?
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In California, as of yesterday, renewing your license registers you to vote.
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