TSA to charge $45 fee for airline passengers who lack Real ID

The Transportation Security Administration announced a new $45 fee to temporarily verify identities of airline passengers who lack a Real ID, starting on Feb. 1.

Passengers will be pushed to pay the fee before they arrive at the airport and bring their receipt with them. They can then get in the regular checkpoint lines with passengers who have compliant ID.

Those who lack a Real ID and don’t pay the fee to get pre-clearance can be blocked from getting through the checkpoint. There will be a way to pay the fee and get cleared at the airport, but it will mean getting out of the checkpoint line to go to another location, TSA said.

TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said 94% of travelers right now do have a compliant ID.

“The intent here is to drive up that compliance rate,” she said.

She said Real ID is intended to keep “bad actors” and illegal immigrants from boarding flights.

The verification is good for a 10-day period, which TSA said should cover most out-and-back trips.

Officials said there will be some discretion for “emergency” situations. Children under 18 aren’t covered by the requirement.

The $45 fee is higher than TSA had indicated less than two weeks ago, when it announced an $18 fee.

TSA said it had reassessed its costs involved in completing the identity verification, and it came out higher than first thought. Agency officials said their goal is to make sure the costs are all borne by those who lack Real ID.

Payment can be made at Pay.gov.

Real ID is a federal law passed in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. The 9/11 Commission recommended heightened ID standards after some of the hijackers boarded airplanes using identification cards that lacked verification of legal status.

The law had included a 2008 deadline for travelers to have a compliant identification. Administrations, both Republican and Democratic, delayed that deadline under pressure from states and travelers who complained of the hassle.

The new Trump administration finally began what it called “full enforcement” on May 7.

As of April, 81% of travelers were using a Real ID-compliant identification. That grew to the current 94%, officials said.