Originally Posted by
Paolo01
At that point another TSA agent come over and pulls the two women to the side and I put my BP and ID on the little screening table. I asked it it was unusual that people still did not know about the ID to fly requirement, and she just laughed and said that it happens occasionally still.
I can understand somebody being shocked when their bottle of water they just purchased is confiscated, but I am still amazed at the number of times I run into completely befuddled travelers.
Until June 21 of this year, there was no requirement to show ID at the airport. You could blatantly and willfully refuse to show ID, receive a secondary screening, and be on your way.
So I personally don't find it that surprising. Particularly among people who haven't flown for a while, the ID that the USA has turned into a papers-please society where you have to present your documents to a government agent to request permission for domestic travel is quite foreign.
The post June 21 rule (
http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/...uirements.shtm) is still fairly new and to my knowledge has not been tested in court. IMO it is on pretty shaky grounds given the Gilmore ruling, given that it gives residents of AK and HI no means to petition the federal government without presenting travel papers, and given that it impedes free expression by discriminating between those who "willfully refuse" to show ID and those who just forgot ID.