Mustache, beard and TSA
 

Both my driver's license and passport pictures show me as a clean shaven man. I would like to grow a mustache and possibly even a beard. I travel frequently. Would this cause delays/problems at the security check?
Has anyone had problems because the picture ID didn't exactly match current appearance?
I am serious.

Moving Thread to the TS/S Forum. Please follow there.
Thanks...
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Eh, people with facial hair are not to be trusted.. But other than that won't cause trouble.

well
 

SATTSO,
I thought it was people with no body hair are not to be trusted :confused:

Well, those who know me know that I have both a beard and a mustache.

I fly a fair amount.

I am always sent to secondary inspection. Many of you know why.

The i.d. checker is more interested in impressing you with his/her ability to
1.) read 2.) use the recently issued light and 3.) the need for near vision lenses.

You can fly without i.d.

Why are you sent to secondary screening all the time?

And as your reasons:
1) "hooked on phonics worked for me"
2) I work for TSA, I impress myself when I can use any simple electronics
3) actually I do need to get glasses, but I don't have to hold the license any closer than the tip of my nose.

A friend of mine, a resident of French Polynesia (who is also a FA for ATN) was detained and questioned at LAX immigration upon arrival for several hours because her hair color on her passport photo did not match the hair color on her head (and it was only a slightly lighter shade of brunette.) So, besides worrying about your ID passing muster with TSA, you might also consider the ramifications of difference in appearance from your passport photo.

Well, there was a college student handcuffed and detained in PHL for 5 hours a couple of months ago. One of the reasons officials gave for this treatment?

Lt. Louis Liberati said, just as Davis did, that TSA personnel initially selected George because of something in his behavior.

But Liberati said that it was the stuff that the TSA found in George's backpack and wallet that really aroused their suspicion: the Arabic flash cards with troubling words, a card that had George's name and Arabic script, and the longer hair in George's driver's license and passport photos than his current clean-cut appearance.

That's "an indicator sometimes that somebody may have gone through a radicalization," Liberati explained.

So if someone who gets head lice away from home, shaves their head and cuts off their beard and mustache but can't update their passport/DL photos will then be detained?

and yet another fine example of tsa overstepping its bounds where they are only to search for wei's :td: <brought to by the law firm of feh, blech, ralph, belch and hurl>

[QUOTE=goalie;12853229]an

Oh, for crying out loud, anyone who has seen The Princess Bride knows that it's people who wear masks are not to be trusted.

Mike

To answer the original question, my clean-shaven, short-haired (according to passport photo) hubby decided to grow the mother of all beards and his hair is now halfway down his back. We've flown to several countries and yes, they do look closely at his photo and then him to make sure it's the same person, but it's never caused us a problem.

I think he might have an advantage, though, because he's always traveling with me and I can always make a light-hearted wife joke. My hair is much longer than my passport photo, too (but same colour and no beard!), so it probably seems like less of a deal when the two of us go through.

Did he ever file a lawsuit?

now we know that your not bright enough to hold a regular job.