Jamie Biesiada
Jamie Biesiada, Travel Weekly's senior editor covering retail, is the new editor of the Home-Based Agent eNewsletter.
Now is the time to start preparing clients for the requirements that the Real ID Act will bring to domestic air travel over the coming years, especially if they reside in a state that is noncompliant with federal regulations governing the issuance of identification cards.
The Real ID Act was enacted in 2005 by Congress and sets certain standards for driver's licenses and identification cards. While states are not mandated to participate, if they do not, the IDs they issue will not be accepted for federal purposes. And the federal purpose most germane to the trade is boarding a federally regulated commercial aircraft.
Howard Goldman, a senor counselor for the TSA, addressed the Real ID Act, and what agents can do to prepare their clients, during a recent ASTA webinar.
Changes are coming in January 2018. For travelers in states that are Real ID-compliant with licenses that are marked as Real IDs (in some states, the cost to attain a Real ID-compliant license is higher than a typical license), their identification cards will be adequate to fly domestically. Identification issued by states that are noncompliant but have an extension to comply, will also be accepted.
The status of each state can be found on the Department of Homeland Security's website. As of the end of November, 25 states were compliant, while 17 states and territories were noncompliant but with extensions. Four states had limited extensions, and one territory, Guam, was still under review. The remaining states, just shy of 10, were noncompliant.
Full enforcement will begin in 2020, when states will be listed as either compliant or noncompliant as all extensions will have expired at that point. Those living in noncompliant states will need to produce federally acceptable identification to fly. Acceptable forms of ID to fly include enhanced driver's licenses (available in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington), a U.S. passport or passport card, trusted traveler cards like Global Entry or a U.S. military ID.
As Goldman pointed out, the most acceptable form of ID would be a passport or passport ID card, but fewer than half of U.S. residents currently hold a passport.
"Unfortunately, as I'm sure many of you know, only about 35% to 40% of the U.S. population has a passport, and that varies from state to state," he said. "There are some states where [that] may be as low as 15%, and in other states it may be much higher, but unlike most industrial countries around the world, we have a much lower percentage of people with passports."
Agents should urge clients in noncompliant states to apply for passports early to ensure there will be no interruption in their ability to fly domestically, especially as the State Department is expecting a large influx of passport renewals over the coming year: 2017 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which required that U.S. citizens have passports to travel to and from the U.S. and Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, and a large percentage of passport-holders who applied at that time will likely look to renew their documents.
Considering the timeframe, agents should start advising their clients to consider applying for a federally acceptable form of ID now to avoid any interruption in domestic travel.