International Drivers Permit
 

Is an 'International Drivers Permit' accepted as govt ID for check in at the airport? I applied to AAA for an International Drivers Permit so I'm just curious.

No.

There probably should have been a bit more to the response.......
In the US (and most other countries issuing an IDL) AAA is NOT a government agency, and thus not a valid government ID per the TSA!

That said, 1) I'm not sure any TSA "officer" would really notice, but 2) if they do, who cares...... You don't need a valid ID to fly! Worst case, you are SSSS, and have to go through a few more minutes of frustration to get to the gate.

My International Drivers Permit did not have my picture on it. So in the US, where it is a picture ID, it would not have worked.

It' s actually only valid when it's presented with a government issued ID, on it' s own without your regular license it's worthless.

I second what cordelli says. The IDP is not valid without a drivers license present. It even states this in the IDP booklet itself.

Sanosuke!

The IDP isn't anything, really. It's a bit of cardboard with some generic "Please be nice to the bearer" phrases translated into many other languages. I have one but it's never proved useful. It's certainly not going to be viewed as a "valid ID."

Exactly. I am getting my Arizonian DL changed here in Norway, got to take the road test though. I didn't even apply for an int'l dl, and they didn't ask for it here in Norway..

It may be useful in Africa or Asia, but in Western Europe, I wouldn't worry about an international license.

This may true in the US where the IDP is issued by AAA. In Asia, especially there are a lot of government who are issuing IDP (I know for a fact, in India, Malaysia and Singapore the IDP is also issued by the Transport Dept)

In the case of an IDP issued by a Government, do you think TSA would look at....?

I don't think the issuer matter. In Western Europe at least, it is similar organizations as AAA who issue the permits...

Don't try driving in South Korea without an IDP. I'm glad I had mine; the cop at the roadblock demanded it. He was friendly about it as he waited ~5 minutes for me to find it buried in the car.

As I said; Western Europe. :)

International Drivers Permit
 

When I called Hertz to rent a car in Mallorca, the agent said I should get an IDL in case I was stopped by the police for violating the law.

The IDP IS useful, under certain circumstances, like when driving in a country when you are there short term. Some countries don't count them after you've been in the country a certain amount of time- you need a regular DL like everyone else, then. (Often this is the amount of time that you would also need to get some kind of residency permit.)

As for an IDP as a form of ID, as everyone has said, the ones issued in the US would be worthless. Basically its a booklet with translations of some basic driving rules into a bunch of languages. However, if it were issued by a gov't authority & had a photo embedded in it, it might be accepted. Or it might get you SSSS'ed. Maybe someone who has one can comment.

Last I heard, Italy is part of western Europe. A few years ago I had an accident there and the IDL really saved me from difficulties. I believe that it is now mandatory in Italy.

It was required when we rented in Italy last month.

It serves only one purpose. To translate the information on your driver's license into other languages so that people who don't read the language your license is in a way to get the information off of it.

Really. Thats interesting. As I said, I even changed mine to a Norwegian license, and bypassed all the required courses (how to secure cargo on a trailer etc.....) without it. I know for sure an IDL is not required for Americans in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and I was not aware that it was different in Italy. All DLs are on an EU standard in Europe now, so I simply thought the rules about foreign DLs was the same...

But I haven't been in an accident in Italy, thank God, so I believe Opushomes.

Many countries allow you to drive for 90 days or so on your home countries drivers permit and then require you get apply for a permit there. The information is usually available on your country of destinations tourism website

When researching our trip to France and Italy this year, we weren't going to get an IDL until we came across some driving info on the Slowtrav site. It seemed to indicate that you'd likely need one if you get stopped in Italy but less so in France. We picked one up for our trip but never have to use it. We weren't stopped by the cops and the Hertz rental places didn't bother to look at it.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably get one if I drove in Italy again. The driving out there is pretty hectic so I'd think the odds of me encountering a situation where I'd need to show it would be higher than other countries. Plus, we seemed to run into such wacky rules and inconsistent rules out there (not necessarily driving related), I wouldn't doubt that we could get seriously nailed for not having one.

[And yes, as previous posters have mentioned, IDL not valid without your regular driver's license so it's value alone as a piece of ID is pretty limited.]