The Transportation Security Administration has taken a page from the budget airline playbook.
The agency filed a new proposal on Thursday that would charge travelers $18 at security checkpoints if they show up without a REAL ID or another acceptable government-issued ID, such as a passport or permanent resident card.
The fee covers the cost of creating and maintaining the new program and would essentially be required for an agent to access a biometric kiosk system designed to verify a traveler’s identity more quickly than the current manual process.
The fee is optional, but flyers without acceptable ID risk not being allowed on their flight if they don’t pay up.
It’s unclear when the rule to spur more REAL ID adoption could go into effect. The filing said it’ll begin when the agency opens registrations for the program on its website.
Under the proposal, the $18 would be valid for 10 days, meaning travelers without compliant ID documents wouldn’t necessarily pay the fee every single trip within that window.
The TSA said the new technology would be less time and resource-intensive than the current process when a flyer lacks these IDs, which involves providing personal information or answering detailed questions to match flyers to government databases. They also face extra screening of their carry-ons and persons.
But it added that the kiosks would just be an alternative attempt to verify a flyer’s identity — it’s not a guarantee. Those who can’t clear airport security through any means would not be refunded the $18. And they may still be subject to additional screening.
The TSA said the program would require spending on data infrastructure, software development, program management, and compliance. It added that it may impose a limit on how many times an individual could use the kiosk.
It’s unclear if TSA agents would be the ones to collect the fee when a flyer opts into the program. The TSA did not immediately respond to a question about where the fee will be paid and what payment types it will accept.
The fee-based system would be separate from the TSA’s existing use of facial recognition technology, which is already deployed voluntarily at dozens of airports nationwide — including major hubs like New York-JFK, Boston Logan, Denver, and Atlanta.
“This notice serves as a next step in the process in REAL ID compliance, which was signed into law more than 20 years ago,” a TSA spokesperson told Business Insider. Congress passed the REAL ID Act of 2005 in response to the 9/11 attacks, but it just rolled out in 2025.
They added that additional guidance would come in the “coming days” and that the rate of ID compliance is around 94%; a REAL ID card shows a star inside a circle in its upper right corner.
In May, the TSA began requiring travelers to present a REAL ID or another government-approved identification to pass through airport security checkpoints.
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