exerda

Which airport? I encountered something similar at SNA once, even down to the supe coming over and saying, "Obviously this is an acceptable ID," then apologized to me for his TDC being such an idiot. And yes, my NEXUS photo is horrible.

Exec_Plat

Well, this is odd. For the life of me I am sitting here and cannot remember. Except I have not been to SNA in a year or more, so def not there.

CLT? DFW? IND? I think one of those. .. I can picture the wall behind him, but they all blur together. If I had to bet it was DFW near E38.

Sigh.

SeriouslyLost

Might be DFW? I was through there on Monday and after clearing immigration had to do the screw-around-going back through security thing (despite having been screened by the far more competent Japanese security not ~12 hours and 1 flight before) and the TSA drone rejected my GE card as valid ID. Had to have a supervisor come over and tell them it was fine. Even then, he tried to argue the photo wasn't any good - and it isn't - as if that somehow meant he got to reject it anyway.

bankops

Haven't tried my new GE card yet, but never had an issue with the old one. Had CBP complain about my passport picture. This was scanned in by them and then screwed up. I told him that since the US messed it up, unless they were going to reimburse the fee, that was going to be my picture for a few years. He got all huffy, but I was already walking.

gobluetwo

I've had this happen to me. The document checker said that the ID didn't look like me. She called the supervisor. The supervisor took one look at the ID and sent me along. The ID checker kept trying to say it wasn't me in the picture, but the supervisor had none of it.

EDIT: But yes, it is a crappy picture. How it went down. I was sitting by the CBP officer's desk, answering her questions. She did a few things on her computer, said to turn to my left, and literally 2 seconds later, she said picture was taken. I asked if I could see it b/c I wasn't ready for it, but she said it was fine and moved along. When I got the card, it wasn't fine. It looks like she took it with a fisheye lens.

ou81two

You wouldn't get let in to a bar with an ID like that so what do you expect. Go hold the people who made the card accountable. Also, perhaps carrying a wallet with other ID might be a good idea.

Randyk47

DHS, and in turn TSA, is stuck with an inferior product in the picture quality because CBP has simply not invested the resources. I'm sure CBP's position is that the card and picture is good enough for their purposes and if TSA wants a better card then TSA or DHS has to come up with the funds to buy better equipment, software, etc. Having gone through similar battles at the DoD level it sometimes comes down to an interagency "show me the money" fight.

chollie

No.

If two government agencies (under the same leadership) can't agree on the acceptability of a the photo ID one of them issued, it is NOT the innocent pax who should pay the price.

I don't know about you, but I am not going to complain to CBP and tell them I don't like the picture they've taken because I think it might not meet TSA's approval - and I don't think you would dare to either.

It think it's great that you have multiple photo IDs. I do not, nor do many of the folks in my family.

GUWonder

We are talking about DHS, not a bar. And how do you know that a bar won't accept "an ID like that"?

I've had some TSA employees refuse to accept my Global Entry cards as an ID even as it is accepted as ID by various other USG employees (often TSA employees) and even by various retailers where I've been asked for ID.

If the TSA stopped wasting passengers' time and TSA employees' time with these TSA ID games, then the TSA could try to up its game in doing what actually would improve the security of flights: more effectively interdicting contraband weapons/explosives/incendiaries at the TSA screening checkpoints.

As it is, the TSA is wasting a lot of money/time on things that don't effectively interdict contraband WEIs at the screening checkpoint. ID is not security. TSA name games are not security.

Exec_Plat

1. How would you know what the ID looks like?

2. I usually have two other forms of ID with me. (Which I mentioned in post #1)

3. I get to chose which 'government issued ID' I use. Not TSA.

chollie

Just curious...what are all these government-issued (or other) photo IDs that 'everyone' seems to be carrying around all the time?

I travel with one photo ID, my DL. I don't have a Costco card or any other photo ID.

Exec_Plat

driver license, passport, passport card.

the last isnt really necessary, but all my travel stuff is expensed, so what the heck...

STBCypriot

I can't speak (and won't) for other people but I usually have 2 IDs on me at all times - my FL driver's license and my border crossing card. I often have my passport with me in the US (when entering or leaving the country) and my Cypriot driver's license (not that TSA would accept or even understand it). In the US I always present the border crossing card to TSA, never my passport. Prior to obtaining the border crossing card, I used my FL driver's license.

chollie

Do you carry all three whenever you travel, domestic and abroad?

I strip my wallet before I go out of town, so other than an ATM card and one cc (neither with photo), I have no other form of ID. I only take what I will absolutely need for wherever I am going.

GUWonder

Driving license, passport, passport card, Global Entry card, etc. I'm carrying two or three or more than I "need".