Hubs attempted to use his Department of Defense ID at CLT airport for a domestic flight. As a retired veteran, his ID does not expire. The TSA machine didn’t like his card; agent said machine didn’t like it because it doesn’t have an expiration date. He had his passport so he used that instead. Anyone else had this issue? I’ve not found any information on the TSA website that says cards with INDEF are not acceptable.
Posted by
Upstate NY, USA
1123 posts
He needs to escalate to a supervisor and be firm if needed. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification
Posted by
11 posts
That’s an interesting conundrum that TSA needs to fix. My spouse and I both carry “Indef DOD ID Cards” and when we are on domestic flights we don’t typically bring our passports as proof of TSA approved real id. My understanding is the DOD ID is acceptable as Real ID. Yes, I would’ve escalated to a supervisor.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
6675 posts
The TSA machine didn’t like his card; agent said machine didn’t like it because it doesn’t have an expiration date.
But could a person check the ID and override the machine? Just because a machine didn’t take it doesn’t mean that the ID wasn’t valid. If he had not pulled out his passport, would the TSA Agent have accepted his ID?
Posted by
11 posts
When I, a USAF veteran retired, my DOD ID Card had a date on it. That date was for my 65th birthday. That is so when you renew the ID they were verifying that you had enrolled in Medicare part b, so that you became eligible for Tricare For Life as secondary.
Posted by
Snohomish, WA
3997 posts
We have not had any issues with our military ID's (husband retired, me a dependent). My husband usually just uses his passport, but uses the ID card on occasion. I think going to supervisor would be the best bet as well as looking the official details and printing those out just in case.
Posted by
Southern Oregon
784 posts
Retired military and dependent couple with no expiration date on military ID. We flew to California in January using only our military ID cards. No problem at either end.
Posted by
Portland, OR
520 posts
Dependent spouse with INDEF on my DoD card. I have used it without issues along with TSA precheck.
Posted by
Somewhere out there
213 posts
Depends on the airport. It’s become less and les of a problem over the years. I have an adult child who has active duty US Coast Guard ID declined because “it’s not military”. Asking for a supervisor does nothing but antagonize the agent….so have another form of ID with you.
Posted by
OP
USA
483 posts
Thanks for all the responses. I guess it was just his (un)lucky day. The agent was quite courteous but did not offer to override the machine refusal. The path of least resistance was to pull out the passport. But if he’d not had that… we definitely don’t want to fuss or create a scene if it’s avoidable
We are both over 70: both of our DoD ids have no expiration date. We have global entry as well so “the system” knows who we are. But I don’t know how or if those systems “talk” to each other.
Hopefully this won’t happen to others but be forewarned just in case.