Quicker to fly with no ID?

[lectrobyte]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71115-0.html?tw=rss.index

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jim Harper left his hotel early Thursday at 5:30 a.m. to give himself more than two hours to clear security at San Francisco International Airport. It wasn't that he was worried the security line would be long, but because he accepted a dare from civil liberties rabble-rouser John Gilmore to test whether he could actually fly without showing identification.

...

At 6:30 a.m., standing 50 yards away on the other side of the glass screen, Harper phoned to say he now had two hours to kill, having gotten through screening perhaps even faster than he would have if he'd shown ID. He guessed he was able to get through without much hassle by being polite and dressing well.

[grasswire]

1. wow, thanks

Now if a lot of people would follow suit, perhaps we could do away with some of the hysteria.

[lectrobyte]

2. Yeah, I wonder what they would do if everyone showed up

claiming their wallet/purse etc. was stolen?

[lectrobyte]

3. Kicking myself; this seems at least as interesting as @nn C0u1t3r,

or the DUK3 D3F3ND@NTS.

[Scout1071]

4. I lost my ID on a trip recently and was told that I could fly without it.

They suggested that I show up early, but they would let me fly.

I didn't want my name flagged for any reason, so I had a friend use a spare key to get in my apartment and overnight my passport to me.

[Patsy Stone]

5. It's happened to me

In a million to one shot, as I was taking my driver's license out of my wallet on the way to the security checkpoint it fell into the minuscule space between the escalator's steps and its smooth steel walls. I panicked. The line to get through security was ridiculously long, and I knew that if they wouldn't let me fly, there was no reason to stand in it. So I found an agent on the line and asked her if I could fly without an ID. I showed her a Soc. Security card and a voter's registration. She marked Voter's ID on the Boarding Pass and told me that I would, however, have to go through "that line". She pointed to an area with 7 people waiting.

I had no idea anyone else has had this experience. It hardly seemed like a punishment at all.

To conclude the story: I had my passport sent to me overnight, and, almost a month later, the Aviation Department fished my trashed license out of the bowels of the escalator and returned it by mail. :)