TSA announces $45 fee for travelers with no REAL ID

A TSA agent holds a card that is given to travelers not having a Real ID, stating that are not compliant and escorted by a TSA agent through security and allowed to fly at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — Travelers going through airport security checkpoints without a REAL ID or passport will face a $45 fee starting Feb. 1, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday.

This fee is part of the agency’s next phase of the REAL ID implementation process and will require individuals to verify their identity through a biometric or biographic system if they don’t have a compliant form of identification before they’re permitted to cross through the checkpoint.

The announcement follows a proposed rule published in the Federal Register last month, but the agency increased the fee from its previously proposed amount of $18.

“The fee was necessary because we needed to modernize the system. We needed to make sure that the system is safe,” Steve Lorincz, TSA’s deputy executive assistant administrator for security operations, told ABC News.

TSA says the fee will cover the administrative and IT costs associated with the ID verification program and ensure the expense is covered by the travelers and not the taxpayers.

Individuals traveling without a REAL ID can go online at TSA.gov and follow the instructions listed to verify their identity and pay the fees once it goes into effect next year.

After completing the steps, they will receive an email confirmation to show the TSA officer before they can pass through the checkpoint. The whole process should typically take between 10 to 15 minutes, but could also take as much as 30 minutes or even longer.

The agency warns that even then, there is no guarantee that individuals will be cleared to cross through the security checkpoint.

“We still need to go through the process to make sure that we verify who you are. And for whatever reason, if we can’t do that, then you can’t go through the process,” Lorincz said.

Travelers in line who get to the checkpoint without an acceptable form of ID will be sent out of the line to complete the online verification process before they can proceed. TSA says those with a lost or stolen REAL ID or passport will also have to pay fees.

Once verified, the fees will cover access through the TSA checkpoint for up to ten days. After that, if the individual travels without a REAL ID again, they will have to pay the fees.

The agency says around 94% of travelers are already using a REAL ID or another acceptable form of ID.