Ticket flying to another state.
August 15, 2007 8:00 PM   Subscribe

I'm organizing a bachelor party for some old friends. One of them has just informed me that he has a outstanding ticket for driving with an expired license in the state the party will be in. He plans on paying this ticket, but probably won't be able to until some time after the party. Would he be held up at the airport for something like this? thanks
posted by debu to Travel & Transportation (14 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
No who would be checking his id against anything?
posted by bitdamaged at 8:03 PM on August 15, 2007


I assume he is traveling within the United States, right? As long as his name isn't on the terrorist watch list he should be fine.
posted by metahawk at 8:07 PM on August 15, 2007


You don't need ID to fly domestically. Check in online and print out your boarding pass, tell the screeners that you don't have any ID, get the more detailed search, done. Source.
posted by mdonley at 8:18 PM on August 15, 2007


I can't tell you this with any certainty, but I highly doubt it will be a problem. Now if he drives and gets pulled over then yeah he could be in trouble (or maybe if he rented a car?), but if this really happened, a decent percentage of people returning to their home states would have a lot of problems.
posted by whoaali at 8:22 PM on August 15, 2007


Furthermore:
TSA spokesperson Greg Warren insisted there is no federal ban on flying without an ID. "TSA requires air carriers to request a valid form of identification from a government issuer," Warren said. "The actual presentation of ID by passengers is not required. Refusal to allow passengers to board or not board the aircraft is at the discretion of the airline."
posted by mdonley at 8:24 PM on August 15, 2007


Is the issue "He has no valid ID at all" or "he has another ID card, non-expired and totally valid, but is worried about the outstanding ticket"? I believe people have answered both questions, actually.
posted by IvyMike at 8:37 PM on August 15, 2007


Response by poster: thanks for the responses... He does have a valid New York ID, he was just worried about the unpaid ticket.
posted by debu at 8:42 PM on August 15, 2007


Not that you would need this, but if your friend is especially paranoid, he could also fly to a neighboring state and just get a ride across the border.
posted by mdonley at 8:57 PM on August 15, 2007


The airline might be checking his ID (if he presents one) when he checks in. TSA in the security line won't be running his ID against anything, they'll just be checking that it's there and that it matches his face and the boarding pass (and the ID doesn't need to be there if he submits to extra screening, as noted). Nobody will check it on arrival from a domestic flight.

He should probably not rent a car (driving with that kind of ticket outstanding would probably be a bad idea).
posted by deeaytch at 9:05 PM on August 15, 2007


He's not going to encounter any issues with traveling, unless there's a warrant out for his arrest due to the unpaid ticket (which seems rather unlikely).

Beyond that, you could keep him from being behind the wheel during that time as a precaution, but otherwise he should be fine.
posted by Brak at 10:08 PM on August 15, 2007


Similar prob for me in Cali- I have travelled there for 20 years with out a problem.
posted by beccaj at 5:31 AM on August 16, 2007


My drivers license was suspended due to court reporting screwups related to me paying a ticket at the absolute last minute (and them forgetting to tell the DMV that I did pay it). But I didn't find out until I tried to rent a car a year later. If his experience is like mine, he won't be able to rent a car, but he will be able to fly. I've also done the flying-without-ID thing described above, which does work.
posted by salvia at 7:51 AM on August 16, 2007


I got arrested once, 5 years after forgetting to pay a silly ticket. I had flown many times during those 5 years.
posted by crickets at 9:15 AM on August 16, 2007


Does he have a bench warrant? If not, I wouldnt sweat it. If so I'd call the airline.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:26 AM on August 16, 2007


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