Major airports in 20 U.S. states and Puerto Rico now accept digital IDs as a substitute of physical driver’s licenses.
TSA
BCan you fly within the US with a mobile ID stored in your phone? For tens of hundreds of thousands of eligible Americans, the reply is dozens of destinations, and the list is growing. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) currently accepts digital driver’s licenses at 27 airports throughout the country (including one in Puerto Rico).
Although paperless boarding passes have been around for nearly 20 years, the TSA and individual states have lagged behind in issuing mobile IDs. The agency began testing the acceptance of digital IDs at select checkpoints in early 2022.
On Thursday, Louisiana became the eighth state to just accept mobile driver licenses (mDLs) at TSA checkpoints with digital ID readers nationwide. Louisiana residents who download the state’s mDL will LA Wallet App on their smartphones can now use it to confirm their identity throughout the screening process as a substitute of presenting a physical photo ID and boarding pass to the TSA security officer at the doorway to the checkpoint.
“Travelers who are early adopters of new technologies or are intrigued by the possibility will find the mDL a convenient option when going through security,” said Arden Hudson, TSA Federal Security Director for the State of Louisiana.
Does the TSA accept your digital driver’s license?
The very first thing travelers should know is that not only any digital driver’s license will work; it should be compatible with TSA technology. It’s not so simple as storing a mobile version of your physical driver’s license in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and heading to the airport.
While nearly a dozen states now issue digital driver’s licenses or mobile IDs, only seven states aside from Louisiana issue IDs which might be compatible with TSA technology.
In March 2022 Arizona has partnered with Apple to turn into the primary state to introduce a brand new technology that enables passengers to make use of their state-issued mobile driver’s license or mobile ID card in Apple Wallet to verify their identity at airport security checkpoints. Since then Colorado, MarylandAnd Georgia have now joined Arizona. (All 4 states also allow storage in a Google Wallet.)
The TSA also accepted mobile IDs from Utah in March 2023, Iowa in October 2023 and California in December 2023.
How to fly with a digital license
To use a digital driver’s license at a TSA checkpoint, your flight should be from one among greater than two dozen US airports where the agency’s Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) is obtainable at security checkpoints.
Instead of presenting a physical driver’s license to the TSA officer, you scan your mobile ID with the CAT-2 reader to verify your identity. (CAT-2 readers can even scan REAL ID-compatible physical driver’s licenses.) These devices take a photograph of you in real time and compare it to your digital ID using facial recognition technology. Using a secure web connection to the TSA’s Secure Flight system, the devices can even confirm that you will have a flight ticket for that day, so that you do not have to point out the TSA officer a boarding pass. After the transaction, “your photo and biographical information will be deleted from these devices,” the TSA website says.
TSA scanners accept each mobile IDs and REAL ID-compliant physical driver’s licenses.
TSA
This shouldn’t be to be confused with TSA PreChecka separate, paid, expedited screening program available at about 200 airports nationwide that pre-screens travelers for security risk. TSA PreCheck uses biometric data to confirm a passenger’s identity throughout the registration process.
