4 ms·

The U.S. used to take pride in freedom of movement. In fiction, demands for papers were a classic sign of a government gone over the line. Now you need ID even

The U.S. used to take pride in freedom of movement. In fiction, demands for papers were a classic sign of a government gone over the line. Now you need ID even for a Greyhound or Amtrak. I guess you can still walk or ride a bicycle.

ghaff 2y ago
Funnily enough, a while back (may be different now) I somehow lost my license between the car and the terminal door and didn't have any backup because it was a last minute trip. Guessing it's not the case today post-RealID but I was still able to get through TSA. The kicker though was that I had to go through all sorts of machinations to check into the Travelodge near the airport and pay in cash. Ever since, I use a generally useless global entry ID as identification at the airport and keep my driver's license well secured.
- abecedarius 2y ago
  Yeah, similar experiences on both counts in early 2000s. The hotel's refusal to honor a reservation even with cash in advance was part of the new "not the country I grew up in" feeling, those years.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    It has more to do with having a credit card on file in case of damages. And like I said in another reply, the country you grew up in was probably different than the country my still living parents grew up in in the Jim Crow south.
    - abecedarius 2y ago
      Yes, it was. One thing there seems to be more of is bundling of politics, like "Y is bad" as rejoinder to "X is good" with no necessary link between them. I think I asked what deposit they would need. It had never been an issue before.
      - scarface_74 2y ago
        My point isn’t political. But when people wax poetically about how great the US use to be, it definitely wasn’t great even in the 70s for a percentage of people living in the south
        abecedarius 2y ago
        I agree that Y is bad, actually.
NoImmatureAdHom 2y ago
I think you still have the right to travel without ID. The TSA may demand it, and may tell you it's legally required, but that doesn't make that true. If you show up at the airport without an ID, you'll still be allowed to fly domestically. Of course, how easy that is probably depends on whether you frame it as a "woops!" or as a "fuck you guys!". They'll put you through extra "security" screening and try to confirm your ID other ways. "In fact, the TSA does not require, and the law does not authorize the TSA to require, that would-be travelers show any identity documents. According to longstanding practice, people who do not show any identity documents travel by air every day – typically after being required to complete and sign the current version of TSA Form 415 and answer questions about what information is contained in the file about them obtained by the TSA from data broker Accurint…." https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/05/19/tsa-tries-again-to-impose-an-id-requirement-to-fly/ https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/05/19/tsa-tries-again-to-im... https://papersplease.org/wp/2024/03/18/buses-trains-and-us-domestic-travel-without-id/ https://papersplease.org/wp/2024/03/18/buses-trains-and-us-d... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_United_States_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_Unit...
- ghaff 2y ago
  Apparently, this is changing: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification#:~:text=Adult%20passengers%2018%20and%20older,checkpoint%20in%20order%20to%20travel.&text=Beginning%20May%207%2C%202025%2C%20if,it%20is%20REAL%20ID%20compliant. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification...
  - alexanderchr 2y ago
    I think only their definition of ”acceptable ID” is changing. The section for ”Don’t Have Your Acceptable ID?” stays the same.
    - abecedarius 2y ago
      That reads basically like "if you seem cooperative enough with our extra effort to check your identity, we'll probably let you through". That's just a very different country from "you need greenbacks to buy a ticket over the counter." Similarly though admittedly more permissive, with Amtrak iirc it's like: you need a credit card and they probably won't check your ID. There were several more years after 9/11 before the "papers please" principle came for the trains and buses too. E.g. search turned up a claim Greyhound "employees are not allowed to sell a ticket without an official ID" https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/140703/i-have-no-identification-to-get-on-the-bus-how-does-that-work https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/140703/i-have-no-...
kelnos 2y ago
> Now you need ID even for a Greyhound or Amtrak. I've taken Amtrak quite a bit in the last few years (Emeryville & Truckee in California, and NYC, Philly, BWI, and DC in the east), and I've never been asked for ID to board a train. (In other words, trivially easy for someone to do something nefarious if they wanted to.) No security checkpoints, no ticket checking before getting on the train, just someone checking tickets on the train itself 10-20 minutes after it gets moving. You also don't actually need an ID to fly, though if you try that, give yourself plenty of time to get through "extra security".
elijaht 2y ago
I’ve never been asked for ID on a greyhound (~10 trips) or amtrak (~25 trips). I’m sure they both have policies about it on the books, but I’ve never seen them enforced
scarface_74 2y ago
Are we talking about the same US that didn’t allow my parents to attend certain schools, drink from the same water fountain, forced them to be in the back of a theater, and had separate colleges?

ghaff 2y ago

Funnily enough, a while back (may be different now) I somehow lost my license between the car and the terminal door and didn't have any backup because it was a last minute trip. Guessing it's not the case today post-RealID but I was still able to get through TSA. The kicker though was that I had to go through all sorts of machinations to check into the Travelodge near the airport and pay in cash. Ever since, I use a generally useless global entry ID as identification at the airport and keep my driver's license well secured.

abecedarius 2y ago
Yeah, similar experiences on both counts in early 2000s. The hotel's refusal to honor a reservation even with cash in advance was part of the new "not the country I grew up in" feeling, those years.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  It has more to do with having a credit card on file in case of damages. And like I said in another reply, the country you grew up in was probably different than the country my still living parents grew up in in the Jim Crow south.
  - abecedarius 2y ago
    Yes, it was. One thing there seems to be more of is bundling of politics, like "Y is bad" as rejoinder to "X is good" with no necessary link between them. I think I asked what deposit they would need. It had never been an issue before.
    - scarface_74 2y ago
      My point isn’t political. But when people wax poetically about how great the US use to be, it definitely wasn’t great even in the 70s for a percentage of people living in the south
      - abecedarius 2y ago
        I agree that Y is bad, actually.

NoImmatureAdHom 2y ago

I think you still have the right to travel without ID. The TSA may demand it, and may tell you it's legally required, but that doesn't make that true. If you show up at the airport without an ID, you'll still be allowed to fly domestically. Of course, how easy that is probably depends on whether you frame it as a "woops!" or as a "fuck you guys!". They'll put you through extra "security" screening and try to confirm your ID other ways. "In fact, the TSA does not require, and the law does not authorize the TSA to require, that would-be travelers show any identity documents. According to longstanding practice, people who do not show any identity documents travel by air every day – typically after being required to complete and sign the current version of TSA Form 415 and answer questions about what information is contained in the file about them obtained by the TSA from data broker Accurint…." https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/05/19/tsa-tries-again-to-impose-an-id-requirement-to-fly/ https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/05/19/tsa-tries-again-to-im... https://papersplease.org/wp/2024/03/18/buses-trains-and-us-domestic-travel-without-id/ https://papersplease.org/wp/2024/03/18/buses-trains-and-us-d... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_United_States_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_Unit...

ghaff 2y ago
Apparently, this is changing: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification#:~:text=Adult%20passengers%2018%20and%20older,checkpoint%20in%20order%20to%20travel.&text=Beginning%20May%207%2C%202025%2C%20if,it%20is%20REAL%20ID%20compliant. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification...
- alexanderchr 2y ago
  I think only their definition of ”acceptable ID” is changing. The section for ”Don’t Have Your Acceptable ID?” stays the same.
  - abecedarius 2y ago
    That reads basically like "if you seem cooperative enough with our extra effort to check your identity, we'll probably let you through". That's just a very different country from "you need greenbacks to buy a ticket over the counter." Similarly though admittedly more permissive, with Amtrak iirc it's like: you need a credit card and they probably won't check your ID. There were several more years after 9/11 before the "papers please" principle came for the trains and buses too. E.g. search turned up a claim Greyhound "employees are not allowed to sell a ticket without an official ID" https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/140703/i-have-no-identification-to-get-on-the-bus-how-does-that-work https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/140703/i-have-no-...

kelnos 2y ago

> Now you need ID even for a Greyhound or Amtrak. I've taken Amtrak quite a bit in the last few years (Emeryville & Truckee in California, and NYC, Philly, BWI, and DC in the east), and I've never been asked for ID to board a train. (In other words, trivially easy for someone to do something nefarious if they wanted to.) No security checkpoints, no ticket checking before getting on the train, just someone checking tickets on the train itself 10-20 minutes after it gets moving. You also don't actually need an ID to fly, though if you try that, give yourself plenty of time to get through "extra security".

elijaht 2y ago

I’ve never been asked for ID on a greyhound (~10 trips) or amtrak (~25 trips). I’m sure they both have policies about it on the books, but I’ve never seen them enforced

scarface_74 2y ago

Are we talking about the same US that didn’t allow my parents to attend certain schools, drink from the same water fountain, forced them to be in the back of a theater, and had separate colleges?