Starting Feb. 1, travelers who arrive at the airport without a valid form of identification will have to pay to clear security — and the cost could be an unwelcome surprise. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it would charge a $45 fee — more than twice the $18 that was revealed last month.
The fee is tied to a new “modernized alternative identity verification system,” called TSA Confirm.ID, for travelers who don’t have valid identification such as a Real ID or passport. A Federal Register notice posted last month provided the first details about the initiative, which will use biographic or biometric information. The charge is nonrefundable and valid for 10 days. Even with payment, entry into the secured area is not guaranteed, the register noted.
“This fee ensures the cost to cover verification of an insufficient ID will come from the traveler, not the taxpayer,” Adam Stahl, a senior official performing the duties of deputy TSA administrator, said in a statement. “The security of the traveling public is our top priority, so we urge all travelers to get a REAL ID or other acceptable form of ID as soon as possible to avoid delays and potentially miss flights.”
Monday’s announcement urges travelers to pay the $45 fee online before they travel; TSA is working with partners to offer pay-in-advance options, the news release says. Details about how that process might work were not immediately available.
According to the Federal Register, a TSA call center was used to verify identities for travelers who were missing proper ID. TSA’s new system will rely on “an automated, technology-supported service.” For some airports, that could mean kiosks equipped with biometrics.
People who show up at the airport without the necessary forms of ID and have not paid in advance will be directed to the on-site Confirm.ID process. That will happen upon checking in with TSA but before entering the security line, the agency says. The process will be different depending on the airport, and information about how to pay will be posted at or near checkpoints.
Travelers who plan to undergo the process should build in extra time; TSA warns that they should expect delays.
Congress passed the law requiring air travelers to have a Real ID in 2005, but it was not implemented until earlier this year.
The majority of travelers are ID-compliant — around 94 percent, according to the TSA.
However, Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer and founder of the travel newsletter Gate Access, said people are still showing up at security unprepared.
“Travelers arriving at TSA checkpoints without proper ID is very common,” Harmon-Marshall said. “It’s so common that now the government can capitalize off of it.”
Gary Leff, founder of the travel blog View From the Wing, said a few hundred people a day are subjected to alternative screening because they lack proper ID.
“When you don’t have ID, they don’t send you away,” Leff said. “There’s a process where they get commercially available information about you and have you verify your identity with questions like, ‘what addresses have you had in the past, where have you worked and what car have you owned.’”
Leff said the biometric kiosk will replace this more time-consuming method, an advantage echoed by the TSA.
“The current alternative identity verification process is time and resource intensive, limiting the number of individuals for whom TSA can provide the service,” the Federal Register post said.
The TSA previously noted that the fee falls under a congressional directive that allows the agency to “impose a fee for any registered traveler program undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security.” The amount cannot “exceed the aggregate costs associated with the program.”
According to the Federal Register memo, the fee will cover such expenses as information technology infrastructure and services; software development; identity verification and validation; mobile computing; data infrastructure, integration, security and compliance; program management; and customer service and administrative expenses.
The TSA initially said it would publish the fees on its website and may “update” the program’s amount and availability in the Federal Register. Officials did not immediately respond to a question about why the fee would be more than twice the original amount.
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