Flying blind

Taking this idea of UL travel a bit further, I spent most of Monday at various airports traveling from SFO, to Phoenix, then LA, and back to SFO. But what made the trip considerably more of an adventure than usual was that I was flying ultra-light.

I'd left my wallet at home. I had no ID at all: no drivers' license, no business cards, no credit cards, nothing at all.

Which is how I found out that it is, indeed, possible to fly without a photo ID. They ask a lot of questions, and discuss it all with NTSA in Washington DC...but once they are satisfied that you are who you say you are, they let you fly.

And since each airport has a slightly different protocol, I was able to verify this three times in one day.

Not exactly the way I had planned it, and not something I would recommend. But it is posslble.

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

I take my passport even when flying domestically now, having encountered an airport where they didn't like my CA Driver License because the signature line looks like crap (it came with a small apologetic note that invited me to sit in a DMV office so I could get a free replacement, there was no way in hell I wanted to do that).

My worst flying experience was the Saturday after the 9/11 attack when airlines were nominally open for business. Got to SFO at 4 AM and found the counter lines all criss-crossed each other in random ways, so one had to locate someone who appeared to be at the end of a line and ask which airline they were flying, and hope they knew what they were doing (the person I found did). Finally landed in Michigan somewhere around midnight, having taken rebooked flights out of SFO that didn't reach my destination just because they were closer, and I might somehow travel further onward once I land.

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ttilley
I take my passport even when flying domestically now, having encountered an airport where they didn't like my CA Driver License because the signature line looks like crap (it came with a small apologetic note that invited me to sit in a DMV office so I could get a free replacement, there was no way in hell I wanted to do that).

In addition to my driver's licence, I carry a U.S. Passport Card in my wallet. For domestic identification purposes, it's more convenient than a regular passport book.

Travel.State.Gov: US Passport Card



(No, that's not an image of me on the sample passport card)

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plawrence

Quote
ttilley
I take my passport even when flying domestically now, having encountered an airport where they didn't like my CA Driver License because the signature line looks like crap (it came with a small apologetic note that invited me to sit in a DMV office so I could get a free replacement, there was no way in hell I wanted to do that).

In addition to my driver's licence, I carry a U.S. Passport Card in my wallet. For domestic identification purposes, it's more convenient than a regular passport book.

Travel.State.Gov: US Passport Card



(No, that's not an image of me on the sample passport card)

Not much help if you forget your wallet, as I did!

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963