TSA Has No Issue With REAL ID Despite Record Travel

For the past several weeks, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been warning all travelers about the new REAL ID requirements that went into effect earlier this month, especially with the agency expecting a busy weekend of travel for Memorial Day. Based on a recent TSA announcement, it sounds like those warnings worked.

In the days leading up to Memorial Day weekend, TSA predicted that up to 18 million passengers and crew to flood airport security over the long weekend, warning all travelers to make sure they complied with the new REAL ID requirements or face the possibility of long delays.

“TSA is ready for the additional passenger volume, and we look forward to welcoming families traveling during this peak period,” TSA Acting Administrator Ha McNeill said in a statement leading up to Memorial Day weekend. “As a friendly reminder, to ensure a smooth screening experience, bring acceptable forms of ID like your REAL ID.”

Those predictions seemed to hold true as the TSA revealed over the weekend that it had screened more than 3 million passengers on Friday, marking the third-busiest travel day of all time.

But despite the record travel, it sounds like the new REAL ID requirements did not present much of a problem for the agency, as the TSA announced over the weekend that 93 percent of passengers showed up for their Memorial Day weekend travel with a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification.

This announcement is telling as it indicates that despite all the concerns and warnings about the REAL ID changes, it does not seem to be posing an issue even on one of the busiest travel periods of all time.

That suggests that moving forward, the new REAL ID requirements should not be much of an issue or cause much of a delay at airport security lines going forward, either.