Originally Posted by
The Stainless Steel Rat
Things we have to check for:
- Photo matching
- Expiration date (expired ID = not valid)
- Name matching
- Presence of security features (UV, holograms, microprinting, etc)
- Ensure it is a boarding pass (and not a receipt or itinerary - which aren't valid)
- Departing city (to make sure they didn't hand us their connecting flight boarding pass)
- Date (yes, I have had boaring passes given to me with a different date on them)
- (Depending on airport) Departure gate (as at some airports, not all gates are accessible from all checkpoints)
- (Depending on airport configuration) Presence of SSSS
- Ticket checkers initials (so when we screw up they know who to blame)
So no, it's not *quite* as easy as it sounds. That being said, once you've had practice, I can still easily manage to do all this, including the UV light, in under 5-10 seconds, and be friendly about it. And when all the "frequent travelers" still have their ID in their wallets with the plastic window, we have to wait for them to dig it out, and that certainly doesn't help the speed.
just a quick question but where does it state that on the tsa website or where does the tsa state to the traveling public (n.b. to the travellng public) that the government issued i/d must be valid? there are some u.s. gov't (and i mean federal level) i/d's which do not contain an expiration date (tho it is embedded in the mag-stripe so that when it does expire, the employee cannot gain access").