AUSTIN, Texas — Your summer trip could encounter a major travel headache at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
The federal REAL ID deadline is coming on May 7. After that, federal agencies will only accept state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards that meet REAL ID standards at airport security checkpoints.
Originally signed into law by Congress in 2005, the federally mandated switch established “minimum security standards for license issuance and production.” The law has seen multiple delays following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in response to calls for higher security standards in the United States.
With just weeks left to upgrade your license or state-level ID to be REAL ID compliant, staff at Austin’s airport have urged passengers to check for a star symbol, which indicates it’s in compliance with REAL ID requirements.
Airport officials said they’re looking at “about 20% of travelers” nationwide who have yet to get a REAL ID. Even if you don’t have a REAL ID and anticipate delays, you could still miss your flight.
“Our request is that if you do not have it, you work on getting it immediately,” officials said. “Or if you show up, you want to show up approximately up to four hours early so we can process you, because the time it takes you to process without an ID will depend on the amount of passengers that are ahead of you without a real ID.”
For those who are new to Texas, you should be aware if your previous state made getting a REAL ID voluntary.
However, for those who have been in Texas a while, the state started issuing REAL IDs in 2016. If you’ve renewed your license since then, chances are you shouldn’t have an issue with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as long as you’re a U.S. citizen, permanently and lawfully present here, or have a commercial license.
U.S. passports, passport cards, military IDs, and federally recognized tribal IDs are also REAL ID compliant. Children under the age of 18 do not need to show ID to get through TSA.
TSA also has a list of acceptable forms of identification they will accept at security checkpoints.
