Starting February 1, 2026, travelers in the U.S. who try to fly without a compliant ID will have to pay a new fee. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that anyone lacking a REAL ID or another approved form of identification will need to use the agency’s new identity-verification system. Those who don’t meet the requirements will be charged $45 to pass through security checkpoints.
What to Know
The fee applies when travelers don’t present a REAL ID, passport, or another accepted ID at the security checkpoint.
Starting Feb. 1, non-compliant passengers must use TSA’s identity-verification option, called Confirm.ID. The verification can be done online ahead of time via pay.gov.
If you show up without acceptable ID and haven’t completed verification online, you’ll be pulled out of line to fill out the form in person which may cause delays.
Once you pay the fee and pass the verification, it grants access for a 10-day travel window. After that, if you travel again without REAL ID or passport, you’ll need to pay again.
The fee is nonrefundable. According to TSA, the $45 cost replaces a previously proposed $18 fee.