Why TSA Is Accepting Expired Licenses

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has extended for one year the deadline after which TSA will accept only drivers licenses or state ID cards with REAL ID as valid to fly domestically. The former October 2020 deadline is now October 1, 2021.

Until then, TSA will continue to accept conventional state ID as adequate ID for domestic air travel. TSA will also accept a conventional license or state ID that expired on or after March 1, for a year after expiration or 60 days after the duration of the emergency, whichever is longer. These changes are due to the impact of coronavirus shutdowns affecting the ability of state DMV office to process REAL ID applications.

If you still need a REAL ID driver’s license, all 50 states are now issuing them (if DMVs are still open). The basic idea behind REAL ID is to provide TSA with an improved basis for screening travelers, so you have to provide more background information than you do for a regular license—much of what you provide for a passport. And you pay extra: My state of Oregon, for example, charges both a $30 re-issue fee and a $30 REAL ID fee. Check with your state’s DMV or equivalent for details.

Even after that final deadline, not everyone will necessarily need a REAL-ID license. Passports, passport cards, permanent resident cards, and Trusted Traveler cards (which come with Trusted Traveler programs like Global Entry) will continue to be adequate identification for domestic flights. Also adequate are “enhanced” drivers licenses issued by border states Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington.

On top of the REAL ID standards, one more thing that’s suspended due to the pandemic is Global Entry renewal, which you can read more about here.

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Consumer advocate Ed Perkins has been writing about travel for more than three decades. The founding editor of the Consumer Reports Travel Letter, he continues to inform travelers and fight consumer abuse every day at SmarterTravel.

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