Passports within US?????

[plove53]

Do you need a passport if you are flying within the US?

Newark to Orlando?

I know thay are changing it but did it change yet?


THANKS

 

[LWQuestie]

The Passport regulations are in place for air travel to and from the US and will be applied to land and sea travel in the not too distant future.

I haven't heard any rumblings about passports being required for domestic US air travel.

Travel.state.gov

 

[Jestocost]

No, passports are not required for any form of domestic travel. Anyone over the age of 18 will need some form of government-issued photo ID to pass through security at the airport and a passport qualifies, but you also can use a drivers license, state ID card, etc.

 

[CleveRocks]

There are no plans or even responsible rumors regarding the need for passports to fly within the continental USA.

The Soviet Union required internal passports, and we all know how well that party turned out ....

 

[plove53]

Thanks!

 

[sparklemom]

I imagine the change you were thinking of referred to the requirement of passports for travel to other North American countries, i.e. Mexico and Canada. Until recently, one could travel between these countries with just a birth certificate. However, there IS some controversy brewing over the information that must be displayed on a state-issued ID like a driver's license. As I understand it, the Department of Homeland Security's REAL ID Act (signed in 2005) creates a list of identifying information that must be shown on any ID card used for "federal purposes," which include boarding an airplane. States can refuse to comply with the regulations, but the Act prohibits all federal agencies, starting May 2008, from accepting state-issued identifications unless they meet federal standards. Since many states are in fact refusing to comply, citing factors that range from costs to civil liberties, the Act as it's currently written means that anyone with a noncompliant state ID would need a passport for interstate travel. This raises serious issues as far as the "full faith and credit" aspect of the U.S. Constitution, so I'd expect legal challenges. However, if nothing changes, it's true that after May 2008, you could need a passport to fly from Newark to Orlando.

 

[Lewisc]

Actually there are "responsible rumors". Starting 2010 federal agencies, including the TSA, aren't allowed to accept state issued drivers licenses unless the state complies with the requirements of the Real ID Act. Several states said they won't comply.

Unless something changes, and it probably will, passports are the only form of identification that will be acceptable from residents of those states.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act

There are no plans or even responsible rumors regarding the need for passports to fly within the continental USA.

The Soviet Union required internal passports, and we all know how well that party turned out ....

 

[sparklemom]

Thanks, Lewisc. I didn't know they voted last March to delay it til 2010.