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I cannot remember the last time i showed my ID to anyone when traveling/flying in Europe.

It is not necessary inside Schengen, but not all EU countries are part of the area - when traveling to UK or Ireland, you definitely need to show your ID.

In France if the police wants to control your identity, you need an official document to prove it. If you don't have it they will detain you until they can verify your identity.

I was advised, by Germans, to always have my passport on my person when in Germany, as police are empowered to and will randomly stop people and demand identification. One German friend told me that once he was caught out without his ID, and police literally escorted him home to retrieve and show it.

Also had to show ID (passport, in my case, as a visitor from the US) to board planes in Europe.

While traveling on trains in Germany, I was also required to show ID.

Sorry, but that is BS.

Traveling on trains does not require an ID. You are not stopped randomly in Germany to show your ID. It never happened to me in the 40 years I am living in Estern Germany and Western Germany.

In Germany it is required that you own an ID (or Passport). But you are not required to have it on you.

That said, if police has a reason to identify you, because of suspicious behavior, police can have a hold of you until your identity is proven. That will happen when you are speeding for example.

See my other comment:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9384495

> That said, if police has a reason to identify you, because of suspicious behavior, police can have a hold of you until your identity is proven.

Sometimes, suspicious behavior may be that your skin is not white enough.

Different things.

1) "Have your passport on your person": Yes, unfortunately this country requires you to be able to provide some ID. No, you don't need to carry it with you. If you DON'T have one though, it might cause issues/trouble/cost money. [1] I assume the Germans were misinformed and scared, the anecdote was probably not true.

2) You have to show your ID or passport at the border (aka. the airport in this case). You don't need to do that if you move in the Schengen area: Travelling from Germany to the Netherlands won't require an ID. That said, maybe you talk about braindead boarding procedures only. Those exist. People like to make sure that you're the one that checked in and all and .. yeah.. Please provide your boarding pass and ID. Useless. Enforced randomly. Utterly insane. Consider it a nuisance if it happens, but .. it doesn't, most of the time.

3) You never need to show an ID in a train. Except: a) you cross a border and leave the Schengen area. Normal procedures, people will check your passport/ID b) you bought a ticket that says 'can be used in a train (as paper or digital), but requires an ID'. That's the DB (German Railway company) being insane, stupid, annoying, crap, (insert-more-expletives-here). You can buy a ticket at a counter and no one is ever going to ask you for your ID. And I guess no one knows why they consider it a reasonable thing to do for most online tickets/digital tickets.

So:

1) Wrong 2) Maybe 3) DB is run by idiots, is crap, sucks - and there is a workaround

1: Seems to be German only, Google translate? http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalausweisgesetz

On the train: entering Germany from the Netherlands, so trip was entirely within Schengen (and in fact Germany had been my point of entry on that trip for the Schengen area; I was returning to Germany after traveling around France, Belgium and the Netherlands a bit). Train stopped at German border, German train crew came on board, and an officer wearing a jacket labeled POLIZEI required me to show my passport and asked some immigration-type questions ("how long are you staying in Germany", etc.). Other passengers in the compartment were also required to show identification. A companion in a different part of the train said she was also required to show her passport and answer questions.

This occurred on 21 July 2014, aboard IC 147, Amsterdam Centraal - Berlin Hbf.

At this point I am simply more amused by the number of people who've insisted that what happened, doesn't and can't happen, than I am annoyed by it.

Hmm.. I don't think people are saying that you're a liar or anything, it's just weird and - obviously, given the feedback, more or less unheard of. I'd be pretty annoyed as well.

That said: This particular border was/is monitored a bit more. Even cars crossing that border might get pulled over. Why? Certain harmless substances were/are (not sure about the current legislation) easier to get in the NL and people living close to the border tended to do shopping trips..

>Also had to show ID (passport, in my case, as a visitor from the US) to board planes in Europe.

If this was a Schengen (inter-europe flight), the only reason you would need it would be on checkin if your airline checks this for revenue protection. By law there shouldn't be any passport checks (at least only randomly).

Anecdote: Travelled by airplane within Europe multiple times, never had to show my passport

>While traveling on trains in Germany, I was also required to show ID.

Which is only required if you get a non-transferrable online ticket. If you buy your ticket at the station, there is no need to show an ID on the train (in contrast to Amtrak)

Being non-citizen is a different story. I think both US and Japan require non-citizens to carry their registration document (green card, visa, etc.) all the time, although it is rare that you actually asked to present it. Demanding ID for its own citizens sounds a lot worse.

Can confirm. All foreigners in Japan must carry the "Alien Card" with them, and it's not that rare to be randomly asked for your ID by the police.

That creates a problem because, obviously, the police is performing racial profiling and I met Caucasian or Black Japanese citizens who have been harassed by the police because they were not carrying any ID.

I had to show ID (Passport) to both take a train from Germany to Paris, and to fly from Germany to Rome. And again while on the train each direction. I also had to show my passport / ID at each hotel I stayed at in Paris and Rome.

For the train: Probably you booked an online ticket (think QR code)? Often that says "Only valid with a government ID". Why? Hell, who knows. Crappy company..

For the flight: Usually you either check in with your ID/passport in one way or another. That's true, I guess. As far as I'm aware at least, there's no way around it. They don't "check" you, but you prove that you booked your flight by presenting the ID. Bah.

For the hotels: That's the real issue. Ignore the rest. Most countries here seem to require that you give up your identity if you check into a hotel. The ID isn't always required - actually that's rare for me so far - but you're supposed to give up your name, private address and contact information. For .. random idiotic reasons I assume.

It's not the hotels that care here, though. Can't blame them.

>As far as I'm aware at least, there's no way around it.

Online checkin? Did multiple flights with Lufthansa, never had to show ID. Maybe depends on the airline

I would guess so. My last (cross border) flights in Europe were with airberlin, Ryanair and easyjet and I had to provide ID while boarding in together with my ticket, and at checkin because I showed up without a physical ticket, so they needed some way to verify I was the one who had paid for the ticket. I never showed any ID to the police, customs, immigration, or anything like that.

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