After years of delays, the TSA’s Real ID deadline is officially, well, real. Starting on May 7, 2025, travelers will need a Real-ID compliant driver’s license or identification card to board any commercial aircraft in the US.
Despite the quickly approaching deadline, many Americans still do not have Real ID compliant driver’s licenses—leading to concerns that the new requirement could cause chaos at airports this spring. According to the federal government’s final rule published this January, only 56% of driver’s licenses in the US were Real ID-compliant as of January 2024. In 34 states, less than 60% in circulation are Real ID-compliant, and, of those, in 22 states less than 40% are Real ID-compliant.
So, why are adoption levels still so low? It’s a classic boy-who-cried-wolf scenario: the federal government has extended the Real ID deadline several times since 2008, as a result of which the public hasn’t taken it seriously enough.
But that doesn’t mean you should put off getting your new ID until the final hour—unless you want to risk dealing with some serious backlogs and delays. “Because of a history of Real ID deadlines being extended, DHS believes that the public may continue to expect that additional extensions are likely and not feel the urgency to obtain a Real ID-compliant card,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in the January rule. In states with low adoption levels in particular, a last-minute surge in demand could “result in backlogs and delays in Real ID issuance,” the agency warned.
One place where these backlogs and delays will be particularly troublesome is the airport security line. “In the example of TSA, if large numbers of individuals arrived at an airport security checkpoint with noncompliant DL/IDs, they will not be able to use that DL/ID to proceed through screening, potentially resulting in missed flights,” the DHS said. “Additionally, long lines, confusion, and frustrated travelers at the checkpoint may greatly increase security risks both to passengers and TSA personnel by drawing the resources and attention of TSA personnel away from other passengers, including those known to pose an elevated risk.”
To help prevent delays at the airport and beyond, federal agencies will be allowed to take a phased enforcement approach over the next two years, with full enforcement of the Real ID rules implemented no later than May 5, 2027. (No, this is not another deadline extension.) The option to gradually enforce the new rules, via a three-strike approach, for example, “provides necessary flexibility for federal agencies to begin enforcement in a manner that takes into account security, operational risk, and public impact,” TSA said in a statement.
“The final rule gives TSA and other federal agencies the flexibility to introduce a phased enforcement approach if they choose to do so,” a TSA spokesperson tells Condé Nast Traveler. “TSA has not made a determination to do so at this point, so we are encouraging those who travel via commercial air (and those who may travel after May 2025) to be prepared with a REAL ID compliant credential or another approved form of ID.”
