Has an interesting experience this morning at DFW Terminal D.
Checking in ... all good.
Went to TSA desk I hand over my drivers license and scan my boarding pass. Then it gets weird ...
The TSA officer called over not one, not two, but three co-workers *and* a supervisor because he didn't believe that my DL photo and I matched.
Granted ... DL photo has a beard and I wasn't in coat and tie because, ya know, it was just a DL photo but still ... I've been flying on this photo for *years* and this is the first time anything like this happened?
I'm curious if anyone else has had this issue ....
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I've had a few issues with my passport photo, particularly overseas, as it was taken years ago when I had a particularly voluminous beard. I've never had issues with my DL photo, even though I tend to change my facial hair between full beard, mustache, and clean shaven on a fairly regular basis.
Yeah, it was early so I guess he was looking to start the day off with a beatdown.
May have been something in that particular entry-point's coffee as they also gave the curly big-haired blonde grief (15 minutes worth, i timed it) over her hair-gel.
Of course, I opted-out and thanked my frisking agent for the massage and for the work they do. He got the joke and appreciated my thanking him for the work.
TSA aren't all morons, my Dad did pre-TSA security at DFW as a post-retirement job (after he retired from AE dispatch) ... just some people, you give some people a badge and they think they're Chuck Norris instead of Barney Fife.
My DL photo was taken when I had a full beard and weighed 245 lbs. I now weigh 215 and have only a thin goatee. This has caused problems twice now. On one occasion, the TSO started asking me questions about where I lived, at which point I told him that the data on my license was inaccurate, as I'd since moved. He proceeded to lecture me (in DEN) about how my DL must be current, at which point I advised him that if he flipped over the DL, he would see my current address adhered to a label on the back, as is the law in Colorado.
The second time was a screener in JAX, who stated that because my photo "didn't match" and she "couldn't verify" the authenticity of the out-of-state license, she wouldn't be able to let me pass unless I produced a second form of photo ID.
This is how great our national security umbrella is: I pulled out my student ID from my sophomore year at an out-of-state college, almost a ten-year-old photo at the time, and she glanced at a photo that looked even less like I do now and sent me through.
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I've run into this once as well. In my DL photo I only had a mustache and at time I had a full beard. I guess the TSA has never heard of men growing full bears in the winter because you know it gets freezing cold in most of the country. The clerk didn't say anything but I was waiting for them to after looking at the photo then me two or three times. I'm shocked they didn't say something about the lack of glasses in the photo either (Iowa makes you take them off to prevent glare) or maybe they actually realize that some people switch between glasses or contacts.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LtKernelPanic
I've run into this once as well. In my DL photo I only had a mustache and at time I had a full beard. I guess the TSA has never heard of men growing full bears in the winter because you know it gets freezing cold in most of the country. The clerk didn't say anything but I was waiting for them to after looking at the photo then me two or three times. I'm shocked they didn't say something about the lack of glasses in the photo either (Iowa makes you take them off to prevent glare) or maybe they actually realize that some people switch between glasses or contacts.
Well, I think I get out more than most TS"O" 's, but I've never heard of growing a full bear, either.
Once. Flying out of HIB two years ago. They thought my passport was fake. It was still the old style, non RFID. It took three of them staring at it, bending it, and shining it with their magic light to finally decide I was OK.
NYS drivers licenses went digital over 15 years ago, so every time one renews* they use the same picture. So, for lots of people, their pictures on dl won't match how they look today--so far, I've had no problem with TSA.
[Eventually people will request new pictures.]
*NYS DMV (to save money) tries to have everyone do transactions by mail or the internet (since lines at the DMV generally are very long.)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nrr
NYS drivers licenses went digital over 15 years ago, so every time one renews* they use the same picture. So, for lots of people, their pictures on dl won't match how they look today--so far, I've had no problem with TSA.
[Eventually people will request new pictures.]
*NYS DMV (to save money) tries to have everyone do transactions by mail or the internet (since lines at the DMV generally are very long.)
A TDC at Logan gave me a hard time about my NYS DL once, not because of the photo (which was pre-beard) but our licenses have a security weave as opposed to a hollogram. Eventually she called a supervisor over and he waved me through.
