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Comment by kva-gad-fly | Hacker News Reader

This was intriguing to me:

> One of your staff asked me yesterday how I had traveled to the DC area, whether I had traveled by air, and whether I has shown any ID to do so. As a matter of principle and personal security, I do not wish to discuss my travel history, modes, or plans with you, and I am not required to do so. But the consistent position of your agency in litigation has been that no Federal law or regulation requires airline passengers to have, to carry, or to show ID. The responses by your agency to some of our FOIA requests confirm that, as you know, people fly without ID every day.

How does one go about this process?

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The TSA is intentionally vague about this. Via https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification

> The TSA officer may ask you to complete an identity verification process which includes collecting information such as your name and current address to confirm your identity. If your identity is confirmed, you will be allowed to enter the screening checkpoint, where you may be subject to additional screening.

> You will not be allowed to enter the security checkpoint if you choose to not provide acceptable identification, you decline to cooperate with the identity verification process, or your identity cannot be confirmed.

Every time I’ve flown for the past few years, my ID fails to scan at TSA. Don’t know why but every time it’s happened, the TSA agent will just call over another TSA rep, they will look at it, and then say I’m good to go ahead. Never knew these other methods existed, I’ve never been asked to confirm my identity a different way.

TSA video walkthrough of flying without ID: https://papersplease.org/wp/2021/04/08/tsa-posts-video-showi...

TSA ID verification procedures (redacted) for people without ID: https://papersplease.org/wp/2018/05/08/tsa-releases-redacted...

records of how the TSA decides whether to let you fly without ID: https://papersplease.org/wp/2016/06/09/how-does-the-tsa-deci...

My mother forgot her ID once and she told me there are two ways:

- They can verify identify through something like a credit card, bank statements, etc.

- Even if you do not have this, they can phone someone that will verify your identity over the phone after getting some info from you. From what I heard you are only allowed to use this method twice per year.

Watch the old folks in wheelchairs. Many of those people have no valid ID.

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