# AIr travel and lost ID **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698 "2005-10-31T11:47:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/1 "2005-10-31T11:47:24Z")
If you travel from City A to City B by air (in US). You don’t get a rental car in City B as you use their mass transit sytem. And you are mugged and relieved of your only photo ID, your state of city A’s Driver licencs. How do you get home? You seem to need photo ID to fly and to rent a car (if you wanted to drive home). If you still have a CC, or your CC company can send you one you MAY be able to take amtrak if you use a ticket vending machine, by if you buy your ticket from a person they require a ID also. So how does someone get home again? Is this why cities have so many homeless people as opposed to the 'burbs, sine they will at least hold on to the rental car and drive it home 😉 No really, how do you get home? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/2 "2005-10-31T13:06:44Z")
You have a baby on your hip and fast talk the security guy at the Orlando airport, that’s what you do. I speak from experience. Lady Chance lost her wallet while at Disney a couple of years ago and still managed to get on the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/3 "2005-10-31T13:14:58Z")
We didn’t need ID to buy a Grayhound bus ticket as long as we purchased it at the station at the time of travel. Don’t know if the rules have changed in the past year though. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/4 "2005-10-31T14:28:46Z")
My wife lost her ID on the way to the airport over the summer (and while she was out of town). She was allowed to board the plane, but she had to go through the extra security screening. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/5 "2005-10-31T22:02:18Z")
I didn’t consider grayhound, at least there is hope. But this must have happened before in a way that a SOP exists. I want to know what to do (besides stealing a baby) ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/6 "2005-10-31T22:46:38Z")
I’ve never needed to show any ID for Grayhound, either. An alternative could feasibly be to call someone up home who’d have access to another form of photo ID of yours. If you were staying at a hotel, they may be able to either fax a copy of the ID, or send it express/priority/etc mail to you via the hotel. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/7 "2005-10-31T23:05:30Z")
This once happened to a fellow consultant back in 1996 or 1997. What he did was call his local police department, and they–somehow–got some sort of ID together for the guy that would satisfy the requirement. I don’t remember what it was, probably something on official letterhead, it was not a replacement drivers license or anything like that. That being said, the prior posters are correct that one can be allowed on board the aircraft without such depending on circumstances/phase of the moon/their mood. Going off-topic a little now, but I always carry my passport with me as a backup ID even int he states. Might not be a bad idea to have one just in case for situations like this, even if one does not contemplate leaving the country any time soon. Also, none of the above will help one rent a car if the drivers license is lost going out on a trip. I would not recommend this, but some of my friends (not me) have “lost” their drivers licenses and gotten a duplicate issued. Then miraculously, the “lost” one is found and kept for emergencies. I think this is against the law if done deliberately, so I urge you never to do this! ---
**Author:** ![3.885AM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/58956e/32.png) [@3.885AM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3.885AM)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/8 "2005-11-01T02:15:43Z")
An ID is not required, but you will be designated as a selectee, which means the TSA gets to rifle thru your bags while you are being hand wanded and pat down. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/9 "2005-11-01T02:32:31Z")
_ahem_ ‘Greyhound’, people. I love the dogs (indifferent about the buses). ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/10 "2005-11-01T12:16:34Z")
> [@](#): > > ‘Greyhound’, people. > > I love the dogs (indifferent about the buses). I bet you would feel differtently if the bus got you home. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-travel-and-lost-id/328698/11 "2005-11-01T18:01:27Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > An alternative could feasibly be to call someone up home who’d have access to another form of photo ID of yours. If you were staying at a hotel, they may be able to either fax a copy of the ID, or send it express/priority/etc mail to you via the hotel. I know from second-hand experience that this is acceptable. My girlfriend (although she wasn’t at the time) flew for a business trip to California, where she lost her identification. She called her work, which had a photocopy of her drivers license as part of her employee information. Her work faxed the photocopy to her hotel, and she was able to use that her identification to board the plane.