Old Driver’s License? You Can Still Fly for 2 More Years

Fliers who don’t have the latest driver’s licenses will have a two-year reprieve before their IDs are rejected at airport security checkpoints.

FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2015 file photo, Transportation Security Administration agents check travelers identifications at a security check point area in Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File

NEW YORK — Fliers who don’t have the latest driver’s licenses will have a two-year reprieve before their IDs are rejected at airport security checkpoints.

Many travelers had been worried that the Transportation Security Administration would penalize them because of a federal law requiring newer, more-stringent IDs at the start of this year.

But late Friday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security said passengers could continue using their current IDs until Jan. 22, 2018. Some would have until Oct. 1, 2020.

After those dates, passengers without the proper driver’s licenses would have to use other federally-approved forms of ID such as a passport.

The Real ID Act, approved by Congress in 2005, set minimum standards for licenses in response to security concerns following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Enforcement of those requirements has repeatedly been delayed.

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