Traveling without a Real ID? That’ll be $45.

Flights

As of February, passengers without the government-approved identity card will be asked to pay for alternative screening at U.S. airports.

By Christine Chung, New York Times Service

January 22, 2026 | 9:51 AM

2 minutes to read

Flying without a Real ID-compliant form of identification now has a price: $45.

As of Feb. 1, the Transportation Security Administration is asking passengers to pay that much in order to fly from U.S. airports, under a new program called TSA ConfirmID.

Travelers who are 18 and older can pay the fee online, valid for a 10-day period, before they arrive at the airport. They’ll be asked for their legal name, the start date of their travel and an accepted form of payment such as a credit card or a bank account number. At the airport, they will show a payment confirmation email at the TSA security checkpoint.

The TSA said the fee is meant to offset the costs of processing travelers who don’t have Real IDs, which include documents such as federally compliant state-issued driver’s licenses, learner’s permits and nondriver IDs as well as passports and permanent resident cards. The agency cautioned that travelers using TSA ConfirmID would still be subject to additional screening. In a recent news release, the TSA said that travelers who arrive at the airport without a Real ID and haven’t paid the fee will most likely encounter “additional delays” that could cause them to miss their flights.

In May, after years of delays, the government began requiring Real IDs. Officials said that the change was meant to enhance security and create a consistent standard for state-issued documentation.

But authorities did not impose any costs for flying without a Real ID aside from undergoing additional screening, which, according to the TSA website, included collecting current addresses.

The verification process for non-Real IDs will differ from airport to airport, the TSA said.

More than 94% of passengers are already using a Real ID or another acceptable form of identification, the TSA said.

In a document filed in the Federal Register in November, the agency said the new fee system would “address government-incurred costs” and that it expected some travelers to pay the fee more than once.

Bill McGee, a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project, a progressive-leaning nonprofit, emphasized that the new fee could especially penalize families who don’t travel frequently.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.