Southwest ID Question

[Cindy1129]

I will be traveling with my sister who just passed her road test and will be turning 21 two weeks before we leave. Right now she has a paper ID without a photo. We are unsure if the one that will be mailed to her will expire on her birthday like her permit does. On the paper ID it says not to go to the DMV until a photo ID has been mailed to you. I'm afraid that she won't have a govenment picture ID for the plane. She will have her paper ID and either an expired permit or drivers licence depending on if she gets it with the same expiration date. Will she be able to get on the plane with a govenment issued paper ID if she doesn't get her picture ID in time for the trip? Sorry for such a long question!

 

[bumbershoot]

It's not a SW thing, it's a TSA thing.

This page has info. Hidden in there is "Passengers who do not or cannot present an acceptable ID will have to provide information to the Transportation Security Officer performing Travel Document Checking duties in order to verify their identity. Passengers who are cleared through this process may be subject to additional screening."

So she should bring whatever she has, get there very early, and be prepared to have lots of extra screening done.



But this sounds like you are planning well in advance, yes? She's a teen now, will have her proper license, but then you wonder if her license will be expiring on her 21st birthday a few years down the road, which is when your trip is? That's going to depend on your state, how many years you get. In WA we get 5 years of license, and it does expire on the birthday. If I were traveling somewhere right around then, I would just renew early! Is that possible in your state?

She could also get a passport; that works incredibly well for airline travel, even if you're not going internationally.

The above two paragraphs are based on reading your concerns several times, and guessing that this concern is about a trip you are planning *well* in advance, b/c I can't make it work in my brain any other way.