No Real ID? Soon you will have to pay TSA’s $45 screening fee

Starting Sunday, Feb. 1, airline passengers 18 and older who don’t have a Real ID or other acceptable from of government-issued identification will need to pay a $45 fee to confirm their identity before being allowed to pass through security checkpoints and board their flights.

A new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) online portal called ConfirmID gives flyers who need an alternative way of proving their identity the option of paying the fee before arriving at the airport.

Airline travelers who use ConfirmID will have to show a printed or electronic copy of their receipt from pay.gov and any government-issued ID at the security checkpoint. Users of ConfirmID also will be subject to additional ID verification and screening at the airport, said TSA Regional Director Jessica Mayle during a news briefing Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“For most people we think it will take 10 to 15 minutes,” but the extra screening could take up to 30 minutes. “The main timesaver is taking care of it before you get to the airport.”

In May 2025, the TSA began enforcing requirements that air travelers present a Real ID or other approved form of ID to board domestic flights.

The policy grew out the Real ID Act that Congress passed in 2005 in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The act aims to set a minimum security standard for identification to increase safety.

The Real ID requirement for airline travel was delayed several times, but put in force in May.

The process for getting through security for those with no or noncompliant IDs has not changed, she added.

“We are just asking people to pay the $45 fee. There are costs associated with verifying the identity of those not bringing proper ID to the airport.”

Passports, enhanced driver’s licenses, ID cards, global entry cards, and tribal and military IDs can also be used at security checkpoints. TSA accepts expired ID up to two years after expiration for the above-listed forms of identification.

More than 94% of travelers at TSA checkpoints nationwide already present an acceptable identification, Mayle said. And that number is even higher at MSP, she added.

Using ConfirmID is optional. Travelers who show up at an airport without a receipt or acceptable form of ID “may not be allowed through security and you may miss your flight,” TSA said in a statement.

Flyers without approved ID will be handed a card with a QR code that takes them to the ConfirmID portal. There they can pay the fee and enter their information.

“You cannot pay with cash or a card at the checkpoint,” Mayle said.

A ConfirmID receipt is valid for 10 days and can be used for unlimited times until it expires. After 10 days, a traveler will need to pay the $45 fee again.

“We want people to take the steps to get the proper form of ID or make ... payment before they come,” Mayle said.

The Department of State issued a record-breaking 27 million passport books and cards in 2025, a department spokesman said.

After an initial rush as the new requirements for Real ID went into effect, DVS saw about 2,000 applications a day. Now demand is slowing down.

“We’re not seeing any effect at all,” said Erin Johnson with DVS. “We’re currently seeing an average of 115 new REAL ID applications a day.”