Editor’s note: This commentary is by John Vogel Jr., a retired professor from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
During the next year, most adults in Vermont and across the country will need to go to their state department of motor vehicles and get their license upgraded with a star. As the TSA explains: “Vermont residents who want to board an airplane will soon need a star on their driver’s license, indicating that it is a REAL ID credential, or they will need another form of approved identification to board their flight or enter a secure federal facility.”
To make matters worse, the TSA is not allowing this upgrade to happen online. Residents who want their driver’s licenses upgraded must stand in line at the department of motor vehicles and secure their new license in person. Worse, in addition to bringing a driver’s license, residents will need to bring a lengthy list of required documentation. I would hate to work at the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles next year and have to turn people away who have waited hours in line because they failed to bring or could not find their Social Security card or a utility bill.
Starting Oct. 1, 2020, TSA states that if you do not have an upgraded driver’s license or other form of real ID like a passport, you will not be able to go through security or board a plane. I can only imagine the scene at the airport in October 2020 when people discover that they cannot get through security and therefore miss their flights and lose their nonrefundable tickets. According to Dan Reed, a senior contributor to Forbes, if “today were October 2, 2020 around 99 million Americans would be ineligible to get aboard commercial airlines. And almost three out of every four Americans would lack any acceptable form of identification needed for air travel.”
September 11 was a tragedy. Over 3,000 Americans were killed. But in his wildest dreams, I doubt that Osama Bin Laden imagined that 19 years later and from the grave, he would still be imposing this kind of massive disruption.
In the aftermath of September 11, we needed to do something about airport security. I thought the best response would be the one that the Israeli’s use, a big part of which is double doors leading to the cockpit. Anyone wanting to visit the pilot would be trapped in a passageway between the two locked, bullet proof doors with lots of cameras, and only let through if the pilot unlocked the second door. Instead we have created a huge, airport security system that costs over $8 billion each year and causes countless hours of wasted time. And of course, none of this security apparatus applies to wealthy travelers who use private planes.
Now, despite not having any more terrorist attacks involving airplanes since 2001, we are still mindlessly following the law passed in 2005 that mandated we implement even greater security using this real ID program. Starting in October 2020, domestic travel will feel a lot more like international travel, and travelers will probably be advised to get to the airport at least three hours before their flight.
It makes no sense. I hope that as the word gets out, our congressional delegation will use some common sense and push Congress to cancel this strange, onerous requirement for airline travel.
