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The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

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Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#61

Post by sixtyj »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #39
crazygringo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be many things, but I very much doubt the motivation is a money grab . A few people paying $45 isn't lining the pockets of some government official, or plugging a hole in any possible budget. Dealing with the presence of travelers who haven't updated their driver's licenses requires a bunch of extra staff to perform the time-consuming additional verifications. The basic idea is for those staff to be paid by th…

$45 x millions of people (some multiple times) = an incredibly consequential amount of money

But everyone would have to take advantage of that benefit not having ID have with themselves.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#62

Post by fragmede »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #39
crazygringo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be many things, but I very much doubt the motivation is a money grab . A few people paying $45 isn't lining the pockets of some government official, or plugging a hole in any possible budget. Dealing with the presence of travelers who haven't updated their driver's licenses requires a bunch of extra staff to perform the time-consuming additional verifications. The basic idea is for those staff to be paid by th…

$45 x millions of people (some multiple times) = an incredibly consequential amount of money

The roughly 7.6 million CLEAR members paying $209/yr grosses them north of $1 billion/year. It's not hard to see why TSA wants to get in on it.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#63

Post by Aurornis »

stonogo wrote: post #37
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of the “working poor” can afford to fly and don’t have a drivers license? All 50 states and 5 US territories issue RealID compliant drivers license/ID

RealID licenses cost extra where I live. Your job can buy you a plane ticket but they can't get you through TSA.

> RealID licenses cost extra where I live.

Where is that? I’m curious.

Around here, RealID is just what you’re issued when you renew various forms of ID. I don’t even recall an option to get a non-RealID version.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#64

Post by wmf »

glaucon wrote: post #57
lateforwork wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $45 pays for extra checks and scrutiny.

What are these checks and scrutiny and how are they applied in the time available? Given the time available is not great ("I'm on the next flight") and the amount of money is modest if humans are involved I'm intrigued to know what could be done that $45 would cover.

Data brokers already know everything about every American so the TSA is just buying existing information from them. Then they can quickly quiz you on the information to verify that you are you. https://network.id.me/article/what-is-knowledge-based-verifi...

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#65

Post by hypeatei »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #39
crazygringo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be many things, but I very much doubt the motivation is a money grab . A few people paying $45 isn't lining the pockets of some government official, or plugging a hole in any possible budget. Dealing with the presence of travelers who haven't updated their driver's licenses requires a bunch of extra staff to perform the time-consuming additional verifications. The basic idea is for those staff to be paid by th…

$45 x millions of people (some multiple times) = an incredibly consequential amount of money

Assuming 100M "classic" ID checks (being generous): congrats, you just paid for two days of running the military!

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#66

Post by crazygringo »

glaucon wrote: post #57
lateforwork wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $45 pays for extra checks and scrutiny.

What are these checks and scrutiny and how are they applied in the time available? Given the time available is not great ("I'm on the next flight") and the amount of money is modest if humans are involved I'm intrigued to know what could be done that $45 would cover.

It's a database lookup that takes 5-15 minutes once you get to an available officer, but then depending on what it returns you may need additional screening, which will also need to wait for someone available.

That's why if you don't have an ID, you should get to the airport at least an hour earlier than otherwise (already accounting for long security lines), and more during peak travel times. If you get slowed down, you're going to miss your flight. They're not going to speed it up for you.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#67

Post by tfryman »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #50
stonogo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RealID licenses cost extra where I live. Your job can buy you a plane ticket but they can't get you through TSA.

Are you saying our state offers both RealID and none RealID driver’s licenses?

I know for a fact Kentucky offers both.

Re: The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal

#69

Post by alecbz »

glaucon wrote: post #57
lateforwork wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $45 pays for extra checks and scrutiny.

What are these checks and scrutiny and how are they applied in the time available? Given the time available is not great ("I'm on the next flight") and the amount of money is modest if humans are involved I'm intrigued to know what could be done that $45 would cover.

This happened to me once, they just brought out someone (supervisor?) who asked questions about what addresses I've lived at, other similar questions I'd probably only know the answer to.

It does take longer than regular screening (most of the time was just spent waiting for the supervisor -- I'm not sure they were spending time collecting some data first), if that causes you to miss your flight you miss your flight.

It seems plausible to me that $45 could be about a TSA employee's wage times how much longer this takes. In aggregate, this (in theory) lets them hire additional staff to make sure normal screening doesn't take longer due to existing staff being tied up in extra verifications.

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