I use my INSPASS as a "government-issued photo ID." Works like a charm.

Bruce

Once, in the Dominican Republic, the immigration officer actually thought the INSPASS card indicated I was an officer of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service!

oldpenny--

If the problem is that you have changed your hair, etc., It might be just as easy to go and get a DL with an updated photo, neither my wife nor I have been asked for a second ID, so perhaps the issue is that the picture doesn't look like you do today. Just a thought.

I agree, get a picture ID that looks like you do. Have the DL reissued. Not sure how another ID would help, as you would have one that looks like you and one that doesn't.

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll go the route of getting a state ID and talk to Bank of America about getting a photo on one of my cards with them.

The security people may not have the actual authority to argue over your ID, but they sure can delay you and make you miserable.

I saw Andy Rooney last night on CBS. The man speaks truth. We have lost the fun in flying and a lot of the desire to do so. I'm flying where I have to go not where I might want to go.

I couldn't agree with you more! After all, who has time to check the authenticity of your ID?

You can "lose" your driver's license, and then order a replacement.

Then you can "find" the one you lost and use it for a backup.

somehow i dont think showing a firearms permit would be the best form of id in an airport

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f

An interesting thing I saw on a UK documentary about UK immigration was the case of a lady from Jamaica who was travelling on what turned out to be a passport that was not hers.

Immigration officers suspicions were raised because the existing stamps on the passport didn't match the travellers profile or her reason for entering the UK. A case of experienced officers just having a feeling that something wasn't quite right.

She had changed her hair to look like the picture on the passport and on first inspection I must say you wouldn't really have questioned that the women on the passport photo wasn't the woman holding the passport.

They 'found her out' by taking their own photograph of her. Putting the two photographs side by side it was then blingingly obvious that they were not the same person. Uncannily wierd.

The reason for telling you all this.....

This whole idea of carrying an official document with a photograph is most probably blinding airport security personnel into a false sense of security (!) thinking it looks like you therefore you MUST be the person in the passport.

If you are trying to beat the system you would never carry an ID with a photo of you with blond hair when you had dyed it black.

The fact that your ID doesn't look like you at first glance should, rather perversly, make them look more closely asnd realise it IS you!!

The answer - technology. In the same way you can get dogs to smell for contraband a human can't smell, you can use computers to look at facial features or fingerprints or any other biometric to confirm the owner of the official document is the same person who applied for it.

You probably still need humans for that human insight of 'that just doesn't look right' but we should use more technology to remove the human error elements.

And now please answer this...Just HOW does checking ID's make anyone safer?

All I can come up with is that all of this ID checking makes it slightly more difficult to fly on someone else's ticket.

I have yet to hear a logical and plausible explanation on how this deters or prevents terrorists from doing anything on or to an airplane.

It prevents known terrorists from being able to travel under their real name.

Two problems here.
1 - It assumes we KNOW who all the terrorists are. Sure, they know some of them, but surely far from all. I doubt many of them "register" with any government agency, so maybe the name we think we have for them is wrong in the first place.

2 - Assumes they could not easily get another fake ID and travel under another name.

So does this really increase safety
? They would simply ticket and fly under a different name. An ID under a different name would be easy, especially since most of these guys are state sponsored and can get a real passport with any name.
Not that you need an ID that matches your face or name or anything. No one looks that closely. I could probably get through the airport with one of those Elvis Drivers' Licenses.

[This message has been edited by pointman (edited 02-12-2002).]

There's no perfect solution. Just because a security method cannot be penetrated doesn't mean that it shouldn't be in place.

If you had enough man power, you could steal an armored truck, right? So why do they bother having guards?

As long as the security precautions eliminate some potential scenarios and are reasonable, they're worthwhile.

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daniel baker -- [email protected]
Reliable, fast, and unmoderated forums at ITYT.

When I have been asked for a second ID I
have given them my library card with has a
photo on it and they seem to like that.

Of course I got the library ID by presenting
my DL.