2026 arrives and the TSA wants to impose new changes, remember that starting February 1, 2026, if you arrive at the airport checkpoint without a valid document you will have to pay 45 dollars to be able to verify your identity and let you fly.
It will be a digital process that you will have to complete right there and guarantees a temporary authorization for 10 days, but be careful because it does not guarantee that you can get on the plane, so it is better that you travel with a valid document to not waste time and money…
The change
It arrives just when the country is finally preparing to apply the Real ID in a mandatory way (if you do not know what it is, you are 20 years late…) and they are also working so that you can carry your documents digitally on your mobile phone (whether you are team iOS or team Android), and you have to adapt to them.
The measure is raising criticism because, although the TSA sells this as a step toward greater security and efficiency, many see a hidden penalty for those who simply forget their wallet or phone. Will it be true?
Changing traveler behavior
According to the TSA, there are two main reasons behind this change, the first, as always, to strengthen security and prevent unauthorized people from trying to access flights, and the second is, basically, to educate the population. Your only task if you are going to travel is to be identified, it cannot be that you forget your identification at home or that you have not bothered to carry a valid identification.
In addition, the agency acknowledges that the digital verification system costs more than expected and that the initial price, lower, did not cover the operation, so 45$ awaits you if you do not carry your document in order.
How will the identification system work?
If you arrive at the checkpoint without an accepted identification, you will not be able to “get through” with an excuse, they will take you out of the line and send you to complete an online process on the official TSA site.
There, you will have to fill out a form, provide your personal data and, of course, pay the 45 dollars, which are not returned under any circumstance.
Once the process is completed, they will send you a receipt that you will have to show to the agent.
No guarantee of flight
The authorization you receive (after paying the 45$) will be valid for 10 days, in case you travel back before you forget the document again, but even if you pay, it does not give you the right to travel, that is, your flight is not guaranteed.
The cost of forgetting
It is 10 or 15 minutes of verification, but we all know what happens when there is hurry and stress (you have surely lived it too with your home printer).
You have to assume that you can miss your flight, that you are going to get stressed and that then there is the possibility that you cannot get on the plane if they cannot verify you.
Real ID was already mandatory…
Since May, specifically, and approved since 2005, so if you go to an airport to travel and you do not carry your updated license, it is normal that they scold you.
Remember that there are millions of licenses that will stop being valid if they do not have the little golden star in the upper right corner of the document.
Have people not renewed?
Yes, the TSA estimates that at least 94% of the people who travel do so with valid identification, and that this would only affect a minority, but as we said, it is basically to educate the population, the system is changing and people simply must adapt to it. There is no other option.
45 dollars does not seem like much, but we do not want to miss the flight, so, if you are going to travel this 2026, remember to update your documentation if you have to travel, and that is what you will save!