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I know that in the US and in India people flying on domestic routes are required by the government to carry photo ID. I could understand why the airline might want to check IDs - it's helping them avoid scalpers and ticket resellers. But what's the point of that requirement from the government's point of view?

In theory, everyone who gets through security are supposed to be checked throughly, so it should be completely irrelevant who's actually flying the route. Likewise immigration is not a concern on domestic flights so again the identity of the traveler should not be of concern.

JonathanReez
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  • Enforcing no-fly lists? No matter the merits of a no-fly list in the first place, you need to make sure the person getting on the plane is the person whose name you matched against the relevant databases for the list to have any teeth. The US no-fly list definitely includes US persons who cannot ne banned from entering the country. – Relaxed Jun 03 '17 at 08:56
  • @Relaxed didn't the requirement exist before 9/11? – JonathanReez Jun 03 '17 at 08:59
  • @JonathanReez yes, long before, as far back as the 60's (okay, I was a child). Perhaps it had (and still has) to do with the airlines and their manifests, checking to verify that the person is who the ticket/boarding pass says they are. – Giorgio Jun 03 '17 at 12:23
  • @Dorothy airline checking IDs is understandable. Government officials - not so much – JonathanReez Jun 03 '17 at 12:29
  • @Dorothy but federal government officials doing that in the US does date from after 9/11. Before that, airport security was enforced by airports, usually by hiring private security firms. – phoog Jun 03 '17 at 14:48
  • @phoog and it was being done in the 80's and 90's in DC in buildings, and not just Federal ones; we had to go through security. I was in a non-profit, and it had bomb threats just b/c it had the word 'America' in the name. – Giorgio Jun 03 '17 at 15:05
  • @Dorothy were federal officers inspecting IDs? I remember very clearly that they were not doing so in August 2001 at Logan airport. Security there was notoriously lax (although the notoriety developed after September 11th). The screener operating the carry-on x-ray scanner was literally falling asleep on the job. Security was provided by a private company. As you probably know, the TSA did not exist at that time. – phoog Jun 03 '17 at 15:44
  • @phoog yes, in Fed buildings; airports, no; anyone could go anywhere within the airport. But in DC, as early as '83-84, they certainly were. – Giorgio Jun 03 '17 at 16:44

2 Answers2

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That is actually not correct; in the USA, you can fly domestically without an ID.

Here is a link to TSA's website that explains it: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification (scroll down!)

If you read up on TSA regulations (and read other questions/answers regarding this topic), you will find that it is allowed - although they certainly don't make it easy.
You will need to answer a lot of questions and might need some extra time, and depending on the TSA agent, he might simply send you away (incorrectly). Certainly not a recommendable experience, but legal.

The ID checks at security are to verify that only people actually flying are allowed into the secured zone; simply to reduce the total number of people that need to be scanned and processed - in the old times, often half the family and some friends would see people to the gate.

Aganju
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  • "You will need to answer a lot of questions" -> why? " to verify that only people actually flying are allowed into the secured zone" -> in Schengen and UK airports that's solved by scanning the barcode of your ticket. Once you went through, no other person can use the ticket to enter the secure area. – JonathanReez Jun 03 '17 at 12:42
  • That's not correct, @JonathanReez . I had several occasions in Europe where I walked back out of the security area, and entered again - which would not have worked if you were right. In the USA, they scan the bar code too, of course, but only verify its data against your name and flight date. In addition, every Joe can make a barcode at home with his name and some flight data on it; there is no encryption. – Aganju Jun 03 '17 at 12:54
  • And what is the purpose of those "lot of questions" you need to answer? So that they can verify your identity. So whilst it may be possible to get airside without "physical" ID, it's not possible to pass airside without being identified. – Doc Jun 03 '17 at 12:57
  • Correct, @Doc . So the whole point is to not let non-flyers in the secure area. As I wrote above. – Aganju Jun 03 '17 at 13:00
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    @Aganju You haven't really explained anything and Doc's observation does not support your answer. If it was about managing passenger flows and saving effort as you suggest in the last paragraph, a simple question or simply checking boarding passes would be enough and waving the requirement to have physical ID without extensive questioning in a limited number of cases would not be a concern. So why is it important to find out the ID of the people flying (whether that means through questioning or otherwise isn't that important)? – Relaxed Jun 04 '17 at 06:52
  • @Relaxed , because otherwise anyone could get in there with any boarding pass. You could just print ten copies of your boarding pass and get all your family and friends in. Aside from that, you are assuming that there is a logical reasoning behind TSA security checks, which isn't. The whole effort is mostly to give the general public the feeling of security when flying. All of the limitations are easily circumvented for anyone with a brain (including terrorists, unfortunately). But that is another discussion. – Aganju Jun 04 '17 at 12:24
  • @Aganju That's becoming ludicrous. Are you suggesting that whole families would deliberately print boarding passes in advance and show up with several copies of the same boarding pass at the same time? That's unlikely in the first place and quite easily detected without extensive interview. And I am not assuming anything and I haven't said anything about the security checks, you're just conflating various things to hide the fact that your comments do not address the question at all. – Relaxed Jun 05 '17 at 23:00
  • If it was about passenger flows and saving costs and the like, a moderate rate of failure, the odd couple of friends printing out a boarding pass twice or cursory interview as a back-up for people unable to show ID would be perfectly tolerable. If it's about security (or giving the feeling of security) then it's quite something else but then that directly contradicts your answer and you haven't explained anything. – Relaxed Jun 05 '17 at 23:03
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The reason ID is checked in the United States is be satisfy the current rule that only ticketed passengers can enter the departure area. Matching ID to Boarding Pass is just the easiest way to do this.

As there are no departure controls leaving the United States, there is no Domestic vs International aspect.

Prior, neither Boarding Passes or ID were checked at the terminal entrance.

Due to APIS, Big Brother already knows you're flying so it's not really a 'Papers Please' situation.

DTRT
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  • "prior, neither boarding passes or id were checked at the terminal entrance": prior to 9/11? That's incorrect. The practice may not have been universal, but I was definitely forbidden from accompanying someone to the boarding gate at a US airport in the mid 1990s. – phoog Jun 03 '17 at 17:39
  • @phoog The statement is correct. The policy had changed several times before 2001-09-11, but as you even noted, up to sometime in the mid-'90s, neither a boarding pass or ID was required. – DTRT Jun 03 '17 at 19:16