The Transportation Security Administration finally has some identification travel options every passenger needs to know.
If you fly in 2025 the Transportation Security Administration will allow you to go through airport screening even without these 3 forms of identification:
- a REAL-ID on May 7
- a lost passport
- even a stolen wallet.
You will learn alternate ways to get through airport security as well as important travel tips to prevent having your forms of ID stolen or lost.
These are the options for identification if you need to fly in 2025 without your passport or license.
The Department of Homeland Security will enforce the new REAL-ID travel rule throughout the United States UNLESS you use a passport or passport card, as well as other options.
Travel Option #1
One alternate form of identification in US airports (if you do not obtain REAL-ID by May 7) is to just produce your passport at TSA checkpoints.
I used to use my passport as domestic travel ID for 3 reasons:
- It is larger than my drivers license which means it is less easy to lose.
- I always keep my passport in my carryon luggage which means it is convenient.
- It was easy to slide my passport in a pocket rather than taking extra time in airport security to find the slot for my drivers license.
But my travel tip is a warning to all passengers in 2025:
You could lose your passport in airport security which could take months to replace compared to your drivers license replacement.
Do not rely on your passport for domestic travel.
Travel Option #2: Additional ID Options
There are additional options accepted by Transportation Security Administration.
These alternate forms of accepted ID include: a transportation worker identification credential, tribal nation federally recognized ID, and even some Canadian cards.
Your drivers license is probably already REAL-ID compliant. Check it now and see if you see a gold star, a black star or the word Enhanced. The REAL-ID act was signed way back in 2005 so if you renewed your license recently, it’s good to go.

Texas started implementing the star in 2016.
Without a REAL-ID compliant drivers license you also cannot enter other federal buildings like a nuclear power plant or any courthouse.
Applying early will save you time, reduce stress, and ensure you’re ready for your next trip with your girlfriends.
Children under the age of 18 are allowed through airport security with no identification within the United States. That kind of worries me.
Travel Tip #3: What if my license is stolen?
If your license is stolen, you can still get through airport security even without REAL-ID or a passport.
My college friend’s daughter had her license stolen in New Orleans and was flying the next day.
Before I tell you how TSA allowed her entry in airport security, let’s look at how her license was stolen.
Every passenger needs to know this:
Her license was attached in her phone case.
Anti-theft tips we can learn from this traveler are:
1. Phones have the highest return on investment to thieves.
2.Do not hold your phone loosely when touring.
As soon as her mom contacted me, I gave her the ASK TSA website with their phone number.
They will answer; you just have to keep saying you need help when the robot answering voice asks you questions.
Another way to contact the TSA is to go to facebook messenger and search Ask TSA. A robot will answer you but just type that it did not answer your question, and then a real person will answer you.
More tips to come but here is what happened when she got to the airport.
They pulled her out of line and asked her alternate identification questions. She said they asked if she had a piece of mail or a pill bottle. She did not, but they still allowed her entry.
Another travel tip for not getting robbed is to spread important cards in different locations.
We leave our passport in the hotel safe. Have for 22 years and never had an issue.
In NYC, I put one of my credit cards in my sock’s hidden pocket. I’ll link it in the paragraph below. It really just gave me peace of mind, but it is an option.
Did you know that your credit cards have more personal information than your passport?
Travel Tip #4: How I protect my license from getting stolen:
Your drivers license has PII (Personally Identifiable Information) on it criminals can use to commit identity theft.
We can hide in a corner or punch fear in the face and live life knowing there are always risks.
Protect your license with these tips:
- Use a crossbody bag that has slash resistant panels.
- I feel confident protecting my drivers license by using this purse because it has slash-resistant straps. This version comes in several options.
- If you take a purse, wear it across your body so that a criminal cannot grab and run with your personal information.
- Use an RFID blocking wallet.
One travel tip is that the TSA accepts expired drivers licenses up to a year after they expire. But only if that expired form of ID was acceptable.
Travel Tip #5: Expired Passport Identification
Many more countries now require a less than 6 month expiration date in order for you to be allowed in that country.
Tip: check your passport’s date of expiration
One helpful tip that will be such a relief is that your identity cannot be stolen by RFID technology that comes close to your passport unless it is within 6 inches of it wide open.
Here’s why: Your booklet has blocking technology in it, but it also has a chip in it.
For example, that is how authorities in the UK will know if you have the ETA. If you have not heard of that new rule, even if you are getting out of a boat or connecting at an airport or landing in the UK, Americans now have to have paid for an obtained an electronic travel authorization. It is nothing we can print out or hold. It is embedded into our passports.

Tip #6: Keep Digital Copies of Your ID:
Number 1: Your Drivers License
For your drivers license you can take a photo with your phone and print it to keep in your luggage or you can hold down on the image and then open your Notes app and start a new Note. The next step is to press down on that new Note and tap on Paste.
It is really up to you.
Number 2: Your Passport Copy
Hack to prevent a criminal from stealing information in a passport is to take a photo of the bar code that is inside the back cover of your passport.
For American passports that is where the bar code is.
If your phone is stolen with that info, the criminal can only get to your personal identification information if he or she has the correct reading technology.
So I feel confident in keeping in my phone or emailing a picture of that bar code to a family member.
You can also print it and keep it in your luggage.
Do not be scared. Just be observant and do your best with the knowledge that you have now. And travel. Live life to the fullest. You have done the work.
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