Originally Posted by chollie

Probably something with RealID, although IIRC, there was a fair amount of pushback and the federal government, to save face, kept 'extending' the deadline. IIRC, it got pretty close to deadline once, and the feds allowed states to extend as long as they 'pledged' to work on it. For states that balked at the unfunded nature of the mandate, now is not the best time to crack down -if they didn't have the money prior to the economy going sour, they're sure not going to find it now.

The RealID's were going to cost more to produce, states didn't have the money, feds weren't going to give it to them. The feds held out the threat that after a certain date, if a pax didn't have a valid RealID (DL or state ID), then he/she would have to have an alternate 'government' ID to fly - for non-military folks, that probably would mean a passport.

I live in a RealID state. Last I knew, they offer both forms of DL/state ID, although I think the RealId is more expensive.

OP, if your only concern is possible emergency flights, not regular or even infrequent planned travel, don't worry. You can still go through the checkpoint without valid ID, although it's a bit of a hassle and takes a bit longer. You won't be the only one in NM with this issue.