REAL ID requirements now enforced at airports. How did it go at RDU?
The REAL ID era began on Wednesday, May 7, and by all accounts it looked like any other day at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
The Transportation Security Administration began enforcing new federal identification standards that require travelers to present a REAL ID driver’s license or another acceptable ID, such as a passport. The TSA says travelers without an ID that meets the new standards will be subjected to further screening to establish their identity.
But that didn’t seem to slow down the screening process at the RDU security checkpoints Wednesday. Early morning is the airport’s busiest time of day, and there were no unusual backups, said Michael Landguth, RDU’s president and CEO.
“We had people here starting at 4 o’clock in the morning monitoring the lines,” Landguth said. “We didn’t see anything different from a flow pattern.”
The TSA had said it was possible that travelers without an acceptable ID would be turned away from the checkpoints. But Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, assured members of Congress this week that ticketed passengers would get through, it just might take a little longer.
The experience at RDU on Wednesday was typical, according to TSA spokesman Dan Velez.
“Nice and smooth throughout North Carolina,” Velez wrote in an email. “In fact, the majority of passengers flying today all across the country have been REAL ID compliant.”
Starting next week, travelers without an acceptable form of ID will be handed a card with information about how and why to get one, Velez said.
Congress adopted the tougher REAL ID standards after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Lawmakers wanted to make it easier to verify the identity of a person holding a state-issued driver’s license or ID card.
The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles began issuing REAL IDs in the spring of 2017. That means every driver in the state has had the opportunity to get one, either when they renewed their license or got their first one.
Landguth said he thinks frequent travelers have a REAL ID or its equivalent. Others just learning about the requirement will have time and perhaps motivation, after experiencing closer scrutiny from the TSA.
“The average consumer probably flies once a year,” he said. “So miss it this time, it’s probably another 12 months before they come back around.”
The new federal ID standards went into effect just before one of the busiest weekends of the year at RDU. Graduations at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University, combined with Mother’s Day, will make the airport particularly crowded on Sunday and Monday, Landguth said.
“Spend a little bit more time getting here,” he said. “So your mother’s not rushed, your grandmother is not rushed and so you can still enjoy the experience of flying and get out on time.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 12:55 PM.
