Temporary Paper License Good to Fly?

[lilwhiterabbit]

I just had to change my driver's license because my name has changed. Instead of printing me one on hard plastic, they gave me a temporary paper license and said the plastic one will come in the mail in 45 days. I'm flying out of Atlanta on August 4th and I'm pretty sure my new license won't have gotten to me by then. Has anyone had experience with the TSA allowing people to fly with a temporary paper license? The only other form of photo ID I have is a student ID.

 

[disney david]

I just had to change my driver's license because my name has changed. Instead of printing me one on hard plastic, they gave me a temporary paper license and said the plastic one will come in the mail in 45 days. I'm flying out of Atlanta on August 4th and I'm pretty sure my new license won't have gotten to me by then. Has anyone had experience with the TSA allowing people to fly with a temporary paper license? The only other form of photo ID I have is a student ID.

i would go on tsa.gov it an easy and helpful site you be able to fly but you might just have to go throught extra screening but you be able to fly. it might just take a little longer. i just checked they dont say anything about tempory that i could find but you could email them and ask. sorry they wont acccept student ids but do you have a passport with the new name or if you could get a state issued id faster you wont be able to drive with that one but it acceptable form of id that the tsa will accept.

 

[Tara]

I just had to change my driver's license because my name has changed. Instead of printing me one on hard plastic, they gave me a temporary paper license and said the plastic one will come in the mail in 45 days. I'm flying out of Atlanta on August 4th and I'm pretty sure my new license won't have gotten to me by then. Has anyone had experience with the TSA allowing people to fly with a temporary paper license? The only other form of photo ID I have is a student ID.

Do you still have the old one? Do you have anything with a photo on it?

In short, yes, you can fly. I've flown when I didn't have any photo ID (oops). Just arrive early because you'll have to go through additional screening.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I can't give you a definitive answer but I will share my experience. They do that temp. paper license thing in Nebraska now too. I went in to renew my license well ahead so I would have it by our trip last October. Of course that is when a glitch in the system happened and I didn't get it. I called the DMV explaining that I was flying and needed my ID! They assured me over and over that I would have no problems using the paper license. Well we flew out of the Kansas City airport and when we went to the first stop in security and I gave my paper license the lady actually laughed at me, handed it back and asked for proper ID! Luckily I have a passport and I had brought that along just in case. I told her the DMV told me it would be fine. She said she'd never seen that and was glad I had the passport because she wouldn't have accepted the paper! I am not sure what would have happened if the paper license was all I had! When coming home through Orlando I didn't even try the paper just handed them my passport!

So if you don't have anything like a passport and all you have is the paper I would bring your student ID and any other ID you may have to support the paper. Like PP said you may have some additional screening. Such a pain! The DMV and the TSA really need to communicate!

 

[bicker]

I suspect that the DMV folks were just talking out of turn. It isn't the DMV's place to speak for the TSA, and say what the TSA will or will not accept. As it is the TSA is very explicit with regard to what kind of state drivers' licenses they will accept:

Effective June 21, 2008, adult passengers (18 and over) are required to show a U.S. federal or state-issued photo ID that contains the following: name, date of birth, gender, expiration date and a tamper-resistant feature

I suspect temporary drivers' licenses fail on one or both of the embolded tenets.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/acceptable_documents.shtm

 

[Carriemel]

They will indeed let you fly with the temp license. You will most likely be required to go through some additional screening. If you do have your student ID, be sure to have that as well.

I work for TSA.

 

[ilovefh]

DH just had this problem in June. It is good to know that NH isn't the only state that does the ridiculous paper temporaries. He flew out of MCO. He said the TSA agent just stared at it and asked him a lot of questions. He had his expired military ID too and they looked at that too. Ultimately they just let him through. He had more of a problem with it at Costco when we got out membership there. Hopefully they will be getting more experience with these because they are "supposed" to be treated just like a regular ID.

Off topic, but when they first started these a few years ago in NH they didn't make any announcement, put it in the paper, nothing! No one knew what they were and I can tell you we refused to serve a lot of people in the restaurant I worked at. The disconnect was that the DMV was telling people it was just like their regular license and could be used to purchase alcohol, but they didn't tell any of the business, state liquor stores included!

 

[bicker]

They're supposed to be tamper-resistent. I think that's the issue... some states haven't done what they need to get the paper IDs to qualify, yet. However, they are probably in the process of doing so. We can hope, at least.

 

[Lewisc]

Paper licenses are generally temporary. I'm not sure how much money states are willing to spend making them tamper proof. Do any states put photos on their paper licenses? Allocating resources to either supply permanent licenses on the spot or mailing them within a few days may be a better use of resources.

TSA (generally) is far more reasonable they you'd think from reading some of the posts on internet boards. TSA has procedures to screen passengers who don't have proper ID. Allow extra time. Bring the kinds of ID you might otherwise leave at home (extra credit cards, library card etc) The biggest problem may be if someone with the same (or similar) name is on the no fly list.

 

[tinka-belle]

Massachusetts uses the temp paper licenses too, and they include a B&W picture. However, printed across the bottom of the card is "not valid for identification". Other than the DMV, the only place it seems to be valid is to get a free dessert on your birthday at a few local restaurants!

Since they are not tamper proof and anyone with decent photo/ID software can print out a paper I.D. I would doubt TSA would ever allow only that as proper identification. Definitely carry additional ID and allow time for screening.

 

[lilwhiterabbit]

Thanks for all the responses. The paper ones in GA come with watermarks, so I guess that could qualify as 'tamper-resistant'? They're also full-color with a photo and have the bar code on the back; basically, the only difference between them and a permanent license is that one is paper and the other is plastic. I'm still planning on bringing my student ID and birth certificate with me, just in case. I don't have a passport and probably can't get one before I fly, given the limited amount of time.

 

[uva185]

You can fly without ID. Show the TSA what you have and they will most likely require you to go through secondary security, but you will most certainly be allowed to fly. No need to bring your birth certificate, that is excessive and frankly I wouldn't want to risk losing it.