Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin More than two dozen major airports in nearly half of all US states now accept digital IDs in lieu of physical driver's licenses. M ore than 78 million Americans—roughly a third of the country’s licensed drivers—are now eligible to fly within the U.S.
with a digital ID stored on their phones. Last week, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that Hawaii became the eleventh state to offer residents the option of using digital IDs at airports with Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) readers. “We are pleased to have partnered with the Hawaii Department of Transportation to make the digital ID a reality in the Aloha State.
This is another way of integrating technology into the aviation security process at no additional cost to the passenger,” said Nanea Vasta, federal security director for the TSA in Hawaii. “We have taken great care to ensure that use of the digital ID can be done so securely and privately when traveling.” Both the TSA PreCheck and standard screening lanes at the Makai security checkpoint in Terminal 1 at Honolulu’s Daniel K.
Inouye International Airport are now equipped with CAT-2 units. To obtain a TSA-compliant digital ID, Aloha State residents can add their Hawaii mobile ID to Apple Wallet, then tap their iPhone or Apple Watch on a CAT-2 digital reader in lieu of providing a physical photo ID for identity verification. How To Fly With A Digital Driver’s License To use a digital driver’s license at a TSA checkpoint, your flight must be departing from one of the more than two dozen U.
S. airports where the agency’s CAT-2 readers available at security checkpoints. “This is an exciting way to prove who you are without having to dig through your wallet or purse to find your physical document,” said Mark J.
F. Schroeder, New York’s DMV Commissioner, earlier this year. “Rather than handing over your physical ID with lots of personal information, the mobile ID gives you greater control over what personal data you share, making it both more convenient and much safer for you.
” CAT-2 readers can validate the identity of passengers who scan a mobile ID or REAL ID-compliant physical driver’s license. These devices snap a real-time picture of you and compare it with your digital ID using facial recognition technology. Through a secure internet connection to TSA’s Secure Flight system, the units are also able to verify that you are ticketed for air travel that day, so there’s no need to show a boarding pass to the TSA officer.
The CAT-2 units do not store travelers’ personal data. After the transaction, “your photo and biographic information will be deleted from these devices,” according to the TSA website. Travelers can opt out of the facial matching process in favor of an alternative identity verification process.
Will The TSA Accept Your Digital Driver’s License? Air travelers should be aware that not any digital driver’s license works; it must be issued by one of the 11 states whose mobile IDs are compliant with TSA technology. For example, a traveler can’t simply store a photo of their physical driver’s license in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and head to the airport. (TSA encourages travelers to continue to carry their physical driver’s license or photo ID.
) Airlines have been issuing paperless boarding passes for nearly two decades, but the TSA and individual states haven’t kept pace in issuing mobile identification. The agency only began testing digital ID acceptance at select checkpoints in March 2022, when Arizona teamed up with Apple to become the first state to deploy a new technology allowing passengers to use their state-issued mobile driver’s license or mobile identification card in Apple Wallet to verify their identity at airport security checkpoints. Since then, Colorado , Maryland , Georgia and Ohio have since joined Arizona in Apple Wallet.
(All these states, with the exception of Ohio, also allow storage in Google Wallet.) The TSA began accepting mobile IDs from Utah in March 2023, Iowa in October 2023 and California in December 2023. In May 2024, TSA checkpoints with digital ID readers nationwide started accepting Louisiana mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) stored on smart phones.
The following month, New York became the tenth state to have its digital IDs accepted by CAT-2 readers. Mobile Driver’s Licenses Are Not The Same As TSA PreCheck Be aware that TSA PreCheck is a separate paid, expedited screening program available at roughly 200 airports across the country where travelers are pre-screened for their security risk. TSA PreCheck uses biometrics to verify a passenger’s identity during the enrollment process.
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