Traveling without a Real ID is now going to cost travelers.
As of Feb. 1, 2026, passengers without one will be required to pay a $45 fee in order to fly from U.S. airports, the Transportation Security Administration announced on Monday.
Travelers will be able to pay the fee, valid for a 10-day period, before they arrive at the airport. Details about online payment or what screening is entailed in this alternative identity verification process, called T.S.A. Confirm.ID, were not yet available.
In May, after years of delay, the government began requiring Real IDs, which are federally compliant state-issued driver’s licenses, learner’s permits or nondriver IDs, at airports. Government officials said that the change was meant to enhance security and create a consistent standard for state-issued documentation.
But the authorities did not impose any penalties for not having a Real ID, and people flying without Real ID-compliant documents were allowed to travel with additional screening, which, according to the T.S.A. website, included collecting current addresses.
“The current alternative identity verification process is time and resource intensive, limiting the number of individuals for whom T.S.A. can provide the service,” the agency said in a notice filed in the Federal Register last month. “Requiring a fee for the modernized alternative identity verification program will ensure that the cost to administer this program is recovered from the users who benefit from it.”
The verification process for non-Real IDs will differ airport to airport, the T.S.A. said.
More than 94 percent of passengers are already using a Real ID or another acceptable form of identification like a passport, the T.S.A. said.
The fee is a notable increase from the $18 payment the T.S.A. was recently considering. In the document filed in the Federal Register, the agency said the new fee system would “address government-incurred costs” and that it expected some travelers to pay the fee more than once.
Bill McGee, a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project, a progressive-leaning nonprofit, emphasized that the new fee could especially penalize families who don’t travel frequently.
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Christine Chung is a Times reporter covering airlines and consumer travel.
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