Checking bag without "valid" ID
 

I need to travel this week and I'm waiting for my new DL and passport renewal in the mail. I know TSA will let folks through without ID and I also have Clear, so I'm not too worried about the TSA side. But I need to check a bag and want to know how Delta will handle this?

Do you have a DHS-issued trusted traveler card, such as Global Entry?

I don't know the answer but what about your old drivers license?

Assuming you can't convince the check-in agent that you are under 18, I believe the Delta policy is either one valid government-issued photo ID or two forms of non-photographic identification, one of which must be government-issued. So a social security card would work with a second form of ID.

This of course assumes you have an agent who knows Delta policies. I just looked quickly on the website and could only find it under Delta Vacations but with more time to search you might find a better citation:

Travel Identification
• Domestic Travel: All passengers 18 years of age or older are required to present 1 form of government- issued photo ID (such as a valid driver's license) or 2 forms of non-photo identification, 1 of which must be a state or federal agency-issued (such as a U.S. Social Security card), before boarding a flight. Failure to present positive identification can result in denied boarding and no refunds will be granted.

I understand not having a passport but don't you have your old DL? I renew my DL by mail and have never had to return it.

It likley depends on the state. In MN you cannot renew by mail you have to go to the DMV and they keep your DL and give you a sheet of paper (without a photo) that is generally useless for identification. They then mail you your new DL in a week or two.

To the OP....go really early and be nice. They will find a way to make it work. You are right that the TSA will let you though without an ID and I am pretty sure DL has procedures for dealing with a domestic passenger without ID as well. As an alternative, you could FedEx your bag the day before.

TSA will still need to verify OP's identity. It's not a question of simply being "let through."

Since the OP has Clear their identity is verified via the biometrics (finger prints/eyes) and you are not asked to show ID at TSA you are in fact just "let through".

Birth certificate, SS or voter ID card will work for the government issued ID and any other ID, such as a library card, credit card, bankcard or work ID will suffice if you have a person on the other end who knows the rules.

OP has CLEAR so this is a bit of a sidetrack, but in case this helps anyone else who comes across this thread via Google, and has the misfortune like me earlier this year to be stuck at a non-CLEAR airport without a picture ID...

I don't think anyone would reasonably interpret kenn0223's comment to suggest that the TSA will simply wave you through without any verification :rolleyes:

... this. In my case I had credit cards, but they asked if I had anything else with my name on it like prescription meds, which I did.

I had to go through the regular non-Precheck screening lane and submit to a full patdown (there was some brief confusion about whether I could opt out of the body scanner but they eventually decided yes, since I was getting a patdown anyway).

Lastly they went through my carry-ons and inspected/opened/flipped through just about everything.

All told this only added about 10 minutes to the screening process, but I would still allow extra time to be safe.

Not necessarily. I've been asked to show ID to the TSA document checker several times with CLEAR. It seems pretty common at the MSP South checkpoint, but it happened to me someplace else too. These incidents make me wonder what the point is of someone (not me!) paying $179 a year for CLEAR.

Right, they won't. They have various ways of verifying identity, including ones that do not require any documents from the passenger. I also think they will let a domestic passenger though after conducting "the works" screening even if they can't confirm identity. Recall that the "no-fly list" is really the only way the TSA can legally prevent one from traveling domestically and it's a positive match type system where, unless you match an entry on the list, you're assumed not to be on it. There is no "OK to fly list" that they are also matching against. ID checking is mostly for airline fraud prevention (to prevent resale of tickets) and they have just conned the TSA into taking it on. It most cases, the airlines were already asking for IDs at the ticket counter before the TSA even existed.


Really?!? I've never had to show ID to the TSA at MSP with CLEAR (with MSP being my home airport).

Now that they moved the CLEAR exit into the PreCheck lines behind the TSA ID checker at that checkpoint they often don't even look back to see what's going on. The NORTH checkpoint is another issue all together; the seeming permanent use of dogs where everyone (Clear, PreCheck, and regular passengers) are all merged together makes both Clear and PreCheck realistically useless. I also have my doubts the TSA agent is being truthful when they stand at the top of the escalators and tell people the North checkpoint it faster...its not.

A wrinkle with Clear is that your biometrics just refer the system back to your ID on file with the Clear system. If the OP's ID's have expired, Clear may not operate as intended for that reason alone. Although there's always the extra-scrutiny TSA procedures to fall back to.

What? No they don't. Clear verifies your ID when they enroll you but they do not maintain connections to every state's DMV nor the federal government's various ID issuing agencies. Once you are enrolled CLEAR is providing the required ID check via its bio-metric secured private database which uses information that it gathered when you enrolled and verified during that enrollment with various data sources including the physical ID check.

Anyone who thinks there is some well oiled massive IT back-end that connects the airlines and agencies and verifies everything at every step in real-time is living in a fantasy. There is one system, Secure Flight, that the airlines match against during check-in to determine if a passenger can be issued a boarding pass and, if so, what kind of boarding pass (SSSS, regular, or PreCheck). Once the boarding pass is issued any automated checking ends everything the TSA does lives in the barcode on the boarding pass (which is generally not verified until the airline boards the passenger). One of several vulnerabilities in the system is that one can easily make their own boarding pass at home and use their own (or someones or a fraudulent) ID to get past the checkpoint.

I’m sorry but that’s not correct. And I never suggested that Clear maintains a 50-state database of IDs. When you register with Clear, they take a digital copy of your ID. Your biometrics are merely to confirm your identity, and your ID is already on file. That’s why the TSA lets them bypass the ID check

if your ID on file is expired, I don’t know what happens. The OP may find out and let us know.