Requiring ID also benefits passengers. I don't want someone showing up to the airport and using my ticket to fly for free without my permission. I also don't want someone using my FF miles without my permission.

Requiring ID also has security implications. Theoretically, many of the people who are on the watch list don't know it. As a result, they may fly under their real names, allowing the authorities to easily pick them up when they show up for their flights.

Traveling under a false name may also require people to buy tickets with cash. You can't show up the the airport with a fake ID under the name of John Smith, but a real credit card in a real person's name. As a result, people would have to use cash to purchase the ticket, which would probably result in them getting selected by CAPPS for a more indepth screening. Hopefully in this screening the fake ID would be discovered, which is a federal offense.

So, while the current system might not stop all bad people, it at least imposes some extra difficulties that possible wrong doers will have to circumvent.

And finally, just because today's IDs are too easy to fake, the solution isn't to stop checking IDs. Along those lines, we've determined that there are many security holes in air travel, so we should ground all air transportation, right?

No, the solution is that we patch holes, like developing a secure ID system.

I will agree that there is no benefit to requiring ID at the security checkpoint, but I think it's obvious that at ticketing and boarding it makes sense.

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