How To Fly With An Expired License
Yahoo news recently reported the story of Charleston, West Virginia Mayor Danny Jones who used a photo of himself in a magazine to prove his identity [link to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080129/ap_on_fe_st/odd_mayor_magazine_id no longer works]. In brief, he was flying out of John Wayne Airport and his drivers license was expired so he wasn’t going to be allowed to get past security. The Charleston Daily Mail [link to http://dailymail.com/News/Kanawha/200801280183 no longer works] adds that the same license was sufficient to allow him to check his bags. However, Mayor Jones did have a copy of a magazine that had a photo of him in downtown Charleston which was deemed by the local agents to sufficient ID. So, what we have (quelle surprise!) is inconsistency in how security is applied between the ticket agents and the security guards, security guards who didn’t seem to properly understand the process of handling people without proper ID and finally agents who were willing to accept a worse form of ID than an expired drivers license. I feel safer, how about you?
We covered a similar action by Virginia Postrel, in http://www.emergentchaos.com/archives/2004/09/acceptable_id.html
I feel slightly more confident that the security people aren’t complete drones and are capable of some flexibility.
GAvin, I’d like to agree with you but I know that MOST of the security people ARE drones. They have often kept US Senator Ted Kennedy, who doesn’t need a photo in a magazine to identify himself, off planes because his name is similar to that of a person on the no-fly list. I guess that the drone didn’t think that people often look alike. Some people even look like their dogs.
So, my identity expires with my license? The picture and relevant info don’t match as soon as that date passes? I only exist as a person with a hair color, eye glasses or not, height, and a photo so long as some state bureaucracy says I do?
Do I become invisible if I don’t renew my license?