You Totally Can Get on A Flight When You’ve Forgotten Your ID

Ever since I left my boarding pass behind after putting it down to wrangle ketchup packets at a Sarasota-airport burger counter, I’ve tried mightily to avoid travel screw-ups. When I circled back minutes later, slightly panicked, my ticket was right there at the pickup window where I’d left it. Lucky break. Still, I swore to myself, never again.

That is until, years later, when my wallet sped off in the New York City taxi I’d just exited. I broke out in a cold sweat. With a flight home in the morning, I now had no identification—and no way to replace it. (Lesson one: Get a receipt. Or use taxi apps, Arro or Curb. Either way, you’ll be able to track down your driver and spare yourself loads of anguish.) The Delta agent who took my call that night was sympathetic, but his answer was strictly by-the-book: I’d need a government-issued identification card or passport to board the plane. There was no way around it.

Except, as I would discover, there was.

LOST YOUR ID? YOU’RE NOT THE TSA’s FIRST RODEO

Mistakes happen. And while the TSA may be tight-lipped about allowing unidentified passengers through security (my request for an interview on this topic went unanswered), U.S. airports would be awash in marooned flyers if the agency couldn’t provide a reasonable workaround.

The next morning, I arrived extra-early at LaGuardia ready to beg for mercy. I figured I’d be ushered into a double-secret office, where an agent would type my name into a database and scrutinize the results. Not even close. Instead, the first airport-security person I found to plead my case just shrugged and said simply, “Get in line.”

Good manners and a cooperative attitude were my only currency. So when I reached my turn at the security checkpoint, I apologized for my situation and offered a photo of my driver’s license on my phone. Would that help, I asked?

“No,” the agent said flatly before he called over his shoulder to summon an agent from the line behind him: “We’ve got a secondary!”

THIS COMMON HOUSEHOLD ITEM CAN IDENTIFY YOU IN A PINCH

A female agent appeared, motioned for me to hand over my boarding pass, then asked a surprising question: “Do you have a prescription on you?”

“Do I have a what?” But I’d heard her right. A prescription bottle, with my name neatly typed on the label, would confirm my identity. And the pharmacy address would corroborate my hometown. This was genius! I rummaged through my bag, but came up empty-handed. With nothing to show but a debit card and a snapshot of my driver’s license, I held my breath and mentally prepared for her to turn me away.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF THE SECONDARY

Instead, she motioned me toward the stack of bins by the conveyor belt. I was now officially a Secondary Security Screening Selectee (SSSS, for short). I’d get the same treatment as a traveler who’d been randomly flagged for extra screening; or worse, someone whose name appeared on the no-fly list. After I passed through the metal detector (again, the agent kept my boarding pass firmly in her hand), she pulled me aside to wait for my bag and shoes. When they emerged from the scanner, one agent patted me down while another carefully swabbed my shoes, unzipped my suitcase and, with gloved hands, rummaged through my clothes. She inserted the paper strip she’d used on my shoes into a black-lit box. When it beeped, she turned to me and said the magic words: “You’re cleared to go.”

I wanted to hug her. Instead, I thanked her for her professionalism and apologized for causing the problem in the first place. A rule-follower to the core, I was pained to find myself on the wrong side of the TSA’s.

MORE WAYS TO PROVE YOUR IDENTITY

Since then, I’ve heard stories of ID-challenged travelers fielding questions about the color of their house or whether there’s a park nearby, as agents zoom-in on their addresses using Google Earth.  And I’ve discovered more garden-variety items that come in handy during an ID crisis (see the full list here). My favorites include a school yearbook, library card, utility bill, piece of mail, school transcripts, or a copy of your mortgage, your lease, tax return, or vehicle registration. If you’ve appeared in a news article lately, bring the clipping along, too. According to the TSA website, you’ll need five of these secondary sources of identification to earn a green light for domestic travel, but I’d had none of them.

Of course, after October 1, 2020, when the new REAL ID requirement kicks in, I might not be so lucky. And if you’re traveling abroad and your passport is stolen, this process becomes exponentially more complicated. For starters, you’ll need to file a police report before showing up at your embassy for help. I hope this is my first—and last—airport identity-crisis. But since I‘m only human, I’ve tucked an empty prescription bottle into every travel bag I own.