Real ID: What you can expect at airports across the country

Kathy Williams had May 7 circled on her calendar: It was the day she’d scheduled a flight. It was also the day the Transportation Security Administration’s stricter new ID rules were set to take effect.

Months went by with no luck getting her Real ID.

“You couldn’t get an appointment,” Williams said. “It didn’t matter what county or what city.”

In a “very stressful” turn of events, she finally got a temporary paper license Tuesday — less than 24 hours before her trip.

It’s a time crunch an untold number of Americans faced in recent weeks, packing DMVs in all 50 states ahead of Wednesday, when the TSA began requiring airline passengers presenting a driver’s license as their ID to have one that meets a more stringent federal standard.

That change, predicted for months to cause delays at security checkpoints, seemed to start as well as travelers could have expected — that is, based on my experience, and those of several other TPG staffers who fanned out to more than a half dozen airports across the country Wednesday.

What we found at airports on Day 1 of Real ID enforcement

Arriving at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) on Wednesday, I immediately saw airport representatives standing in front of the standard checkpoint lanes holding signs, reminding passengers that they’d need a Real ID — or another acceptable document.

I brought my passport, since the TSA said that should still get travelers through security without a hitch.

Indeed, mine did — in 75 seconds, no less, on an admittedly quiet morning at the airport.

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Farther to the north, TPG aviation contributor Edward Russell reported he “spent more time chatting with the TSA agents than waiting” at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

At nearby Dulles International Airport (IAD), it took TPG credit cards writer Stephanie Stevens 12 minutes to get through the standard security line.

“I didn’t notice many delays, but I saw many people with passports in hand,” Stevens reported. “There was a noticeable increase in the number of airport officials and TSA throughout security.”

Some TPG staffers didn’t have a Real ID

Even colleagues without a Real ID didn’t face an overly arduous wait.

TPG’s Maggie Moran, a TSA PreCheck member, was booked on a Southwest Airlines flight out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA).

“I was diverted to a different line that was separate from regular security and was given a red slip that said my ID was noncompliant,” Moran said. There, she had to remove her shoes and laptop from her bag — something PreCheck members normally don’t have to do — but she was still through the checkpoint just three minutes after she got in line.

“No one verbally said anything to me about Real ID,” Moran noted.

TPG managing editor Madison Blancaflor, who also doesn’t yet have a Real ID, passed seamlessly through security across the Hudson River at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) using the expedited Clear service.

Read more: 8 ways to get free or discounted TSA PreCheck, Global Entry and Clear

“I didn’t experience a difference today versus any other day at the airport,” Blancaflor said. “They didn’t ask for my ID at Clear, so not having a Real ID wasn’t an issue.”

TSA predicted smooth launch

To its credit, TSA officials I spoke with last week had remained hopeful that the start of Real ID enforcement would go off without a hitch. After all, the agency had 20 years to prepare for the deadline, after Congress first ordered the stricter ID rules for air travel in 2005, following recommendations from the 9/11 Commission.

“I don’t think we’re going to have much of an operational impact come May 7,” TSA Southeast spokesperson Mark Howell told me Friday.

But fears of long wait times remained

Still, uncertainty loomed after the agency postponed the start of the tougher ID rules multiple times over the past five years — moves that underscored what a dramatic shift it could be in getting 50 different states’ licenses up to a common standard.

Delta Air Lines this week told me it would be prepared to rebook customers who missed flights because of extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis (which presumably would include cases where extreme TSA lines caused customers to miss flights en masse).

And as recently as last month, United Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella openly rooted for the TSA to again postpone the start of enforcement — something the agency did multiple times earlier this decade.

“Hopefully everybody’s prepared,” Nocella said on the company’s April 16 earnings call. “I kind of hope that date gets extended once again, and I’ll hope the same thing when it happens again.”

But as the peak morning travel period came and went Wednesday, I checked the TSA’s app – which live-tracks checkpoint delays — and found few examples of longer-than-usual wait times.

“Things are going smoothly here … with the majority of travelers in compliance,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein shared from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

I flew to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), where American Airlines representatives inside Terminal 3 prescreened passengers entering the checkpoint to see if they had the right documentation.

Those that didn’t (I only saw two) weren’t barred from flying — they just got sent to a separate checkpoint.

That’s consistent with what Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told Congress Tuesday: “They may be diverted to a different line, have an extra step, but people will be allowed to fly.”

For her part, Williams on Wednesday morning brought both her temporary paper ID card and her older, hard (non-Real ID) card.

“I had to present both of them,” she told me, just beyond security at RDU, feeling relieved about how the whole process went.

“Like five minutes,” she said. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

TPG reader Larry Kaplan told us that his travel through Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) was “actually quieter than usual.” He suspects TSA brought in extra agents to help manage the rollout.