The Department of Homeland Security has changed the deadline for Real ID compliance to October 1, 2021, one year from the original date of Oct. 1, 2020, due the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spreading across America.
If Burbank residents plan on flying home for the Holidays or leaving on a vacation after the deadline, you will need a Real ID or other federally approved form of identification to board your domestic flight; without the correct ID, you will be left standing in the airport lobby watching your vacation leave without you.
All travelers flying domestically, including those leaving out of Hollywood Burbank Airport, will require an approved form of identification to board their flights. A Real ID is a federally approved state driver’s license or ID card that can be used to enter secured federal facilities, nuclear power plants and eventually to board federally regulated airliners. Plane tickets or a standard state ID or driver’s license will not be accepted by the TSA as identification, and travelers will not be allowed past their security check points. Kids under 18 will not need a Real ID. Other forms of ID that will be accepted include: state-issued enhanced driver’s license—California does not offer enhanced driver’s license—Military ID and valid passports. Information on Real ID can be found at the DHS website. Real IDs will not be required for international flights.
Real IDs are issued by the DMV. Having the new Real ID is not required by California. The public will still be able to obtain a standard state driver’s license or ID card.
In an effort to alert Burbank’s travelers to the change, the Hollywood Burbank Airport has been working with the California DMV and TSA to educated travelers about the new ID requirements.
“We have a video playing at Terminal A [70% of flights go through Terminal A checkpoint], and we have been putting posters all around the airport,” said Director of Public Affairs and Communication Lucy Burghdorf
Because of the pandemic, the DMV has asked those who do not have an urgent need to go to a DMV office to delay making Real ID appointments. Updates on the status of the DMV will be posted on their website.
The Real ID Act was passed in 2005 to improve the security of driver’s license and personal ID cards. The Act was the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission Report; its intent was to prevent terrorists from boarding domestic flights. However, right to privacy group’s lawsuits and objections from states delayed its implementation. Fifteen years later nearly all of the US states and territories have complied with the Act’s requirements, but as of January they have only issued 95 million Real IDs out of the 245 million cards total.