By Dawn Gilbertson, Jacob Passy and Alison Sider

High winds, tech glitches, broken airplane toilets. Plenty of things can snarl air traffic these days.

A nationwide overhaul of the IDs that travelers need to get through security isn't one of them.

The big switch to REAL IDs -- those security-enhanced driver's licenses and ID cards with a star or flag in the corner -- was supposed to make May 7 the day of travel Armageddon. Instead, it turned out more like a modern-day Y2K.

At airports across the country, travelers who had been bombarded with dire warnings encountered little resistance. People who didn't have the newly required documentation were handed slips of paper and redirected to lines that were often shorter. In Phoenix, our travel columnist made it through security without any ID, REAL or not. Even Newark was calm.

The enforcement start date, during a typical midweek travel lull and outside of peak periods like spring break, may have provided some reprieve. Troubles could escalate as a crush of summer vacationers head for the airports in coming weeks. And DMVs are another story.

Jay Keckhaver, who flew to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Pittsburgh Wednesday morning, got his REAL ID a while ago. "I wasn't really worried about it," he said of potential delays.

But some people Keckhaver was traveling with changed their flights to come back early. They wanted to avoid any airport headaches Wednesday because one person in the group didn't have a REAL ID.

They need not have worried.

As midmorning crowds arrived at O'Hare, airport workers in yellow vests called out for travelers to have their REAL IDs or passports and boarding passes ready to go. People without the correct identification were directed to another -- much emptier -- checkpoint. Disruptions appeared minimal.

Morning traffic at Newark moved at a brisk clip, too, with no major backups or delays. That might have been helped by Newark having a relatively quiet day after being plagued with delays and cancellations created by staffing shortages and air-traffic control technology outages.

Paul Smith, 56, didn't fret about flying out of the airport Wednesday. The Staten Island, N.Y., resident and his wife were traveling with their grandson to visit Walt Disney World. The couple had their REAL IDs well before the deadline.

Their bigger worry was whether their flight would be delayed or canceled. The flight to Orlando, Fla., was still scheduled to depart on time, but their return flight had already been pushed back.

The posted wait time for the regular TSA line at Newark's Terminal C was seven minutes Wednesday morning. (It later dropped to three.)

At Terminal A, it was even shorter. At one point in the terminal's check-in lobby, five news crews stood around, waiting to film the chaos that was supposed to ensue. There were almost as many journalists and cameras as travelers checking in for their flights.

Airport staff were prepared to handle a potential onslaught of questions from confused fliers.

Two decades after the law requiring the IDs was passed and numerous deadline extensions later, some travelers have grown immune to REAL ID warnings -- as some DMVs, with long lines and limited appointments, can attest. States including Illinois have been inundated with appointment requests.

Airlines have been alerting passengers to the coming change, posting notices to their websites, social-media accounts and mobile apps. Some have added reminders when people book their travel, in pre-departure emails and during the online check-in process.

The blitz of advertising and publicity worked.

"It's all they're talking about on the radio in New Jersey," said Marilyne Cashman, who flew from there to Chicago Wednesday.

With no passport, she had waited two hours in line to get her REAL ID a few weeks ago. It showed up last week. "I was watching the mailbox," she said.

Her daughter, Kelly Cashman, has Clear and didn't even need to take her ID out.

Joao Pereira, a 23-year-old from Brazil who is moving to Virginia, said United notified him about the REAL ID requirements before his flight. He was in the clear, since he would be traveling with his passport, which is on the TSA's list of approved alternatives to REAL ID-compliant driver's licenses.

Two people who ran into trouble at the Phoenix airport weren't even flying. Natalie and Amanda Baile, twin sisters from Dewey, Ariz., tried to get a gate pass to go through security with their dad. He's in his 70s and on oxygen and was flying to Newark for a funeral.

An American Airlines representative told them without a REAL ID or other compliant identification they were stuck outside.

"We knew we couldn't fly without the travel ID, but we didn't know we couldn't get a gate pass without it," Amanda Baile said.

After more than an hour at the security checkpoint, a TSA officer arrived to take their dad through. American later said the women should have been issued gate passes.

WSJ travel columnist Dawn Gilbertson decided to try making it onto a flight with no identification, REAL ID compliant or not. She wanted to see what any secondary security screening might entail and how long it took.

"Good morning, do you have a REAL ID or a passport?," a TSA officer at one security checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport bellowed over and over.

The wait time for general screening was 16 minutes, pretty routine. Gilbertson and others without compliant IDs were directed to a separate line on the far right, dubbed the orange spot. It was less clogged than the other lines -- she counted only 20 passengers at one point -- but everybody had to go through extra screening.

She entered the scofflaw line at 7:09 a.m. She had to fill out a form that included her name, address and signature, and show her boarding pass.

A TSA officer followed up with questions, including the state her social security card was issued in, and had to make a phone call to check Gilbertson out. After her backpack, shoes and phone went through extra screening, she was good to go in 20 minutes flat.

Cheryl Sanderson used her TSA PreCheck and REAL ID to breeze through security at Phoenix. "Literally took me four minutes," said Sanderson, who works in special education in Connecticut.

Her brother doesn't have PreCheck or one of the compliant licenses, so she badgered him about bringing his passport.

"I said to him like 50 times: bring your passport, bring your passport, bring your passport, like I was his wife," she said. He did.

Write to Dawn Gilbertson at dawn.gilbertson@wsj.com, Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com and Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 07, 2025 18:21 ET (22:21 GMT)

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