So, long story - I’ll explain if anyone really enjoys being bored - but I’ve got an “AKA” on my passport that they forgot to add when I got it renewed (it even says “See Page 27” in my passport book, but they left it blank), so basically the name on my driver’s license doesn’t match my the name on my passport. I’m going on a trip to Hong Kong (from San Francisco) and don’t want to have to pay for expedited service to have the mistake corrected - I can just barely afford the trip - so is it OK if I just bring my passport as my ID and leave my DL at home? I checked the SFO site and the NTSA site, and they both say that a passport is sufficient identification, which would save me a lot of hassle, since the tickets were purchased under my passport name. But the last few times I’ve flown out of the country, I seen to remember them asking for a driver’s license as well, so I don’t want to not be able to board the plane. Anybody fly recently from the U.S. that can confirm that all they’ll ask me for is a passport?
All you need is a passport. Cite: trip to Europe in April 2009.
Excellent! Thanks. It’s been about six years since I last went to Europe, so either my memory’s faulty or they changed the requirements.
Not only is it all you need to fly internationally, it is the **only **thing you can use to fly internationally.
Perfect. As I said, I saw that on the TSA site, but just wanted to be sure (you know how bureaucracies are.
The DL is needed for driving, but not as ID. Your passport is your primary ID; otoh, if you need to drive the rental place won’t ask for the passport (they know the people at Customs already checked it).
This is not always true, though: many nations have smaller national IDs which are accepted by other countries as per multilateral treaties.
^
If your country has an agreement with the other. Thus always a good idea to keep ur passport.
I’m amazed that anyone would think they could fly internationally without a passport. That’s what they’re for!
Not only that, but in most places the authorities have made the repatriation of people without the correct ID the responsibility of the airline, so you wouldn’t even get on the outgoing plane in the US without a passport.
I know there are some countries with reciprocal agreements about other ID, but they’re a very small minority.
Enjoy Hong Kong - it’s the greatest place on earth!
Airlines won’t even take a driver’s license as ID. Passport is the normal international travel document. It’s the most common and hassle free one. There are some other travel documents that aren’t worth going into that some people travel under.
My Dutch IDcard is acceptable for travel to all EU countries as well as ‘Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaca, Norway, San Marino, Turkey, Iceland and Switzerland’. I think this is mostly an EU thing, I don’t think, for instance, that the US would have an agreement with any country that anything other than a passport would be acceptable. And I have never heard of a driver’s license counting as ID for international travel.
The OP does not appear to think that. He/she is asking whether, in order to leave the U.S., a citizen must present a driving licence as well as a passport.
It’s true that a U.S. driving licence is pretty useless as ID outside of the U.S. The use of the driving licence as a de facto ID/proof-of-age card is a bit of an American thing.
As mentioned, a passport is the only piece of ID you would need.
BUT!
The passenger name on your air ticket has to exactly match the name in the passport.
If you get your ticket in the name on your DL you’re in for problems.
ETA: I just re-read the OP and see that your ticket matches the passport. But nonetheless this statement of fact stands as advice to anyone else who happens upon it.
Yes it does, but not for air travel.
Precisely. As I said, I’ve traveled overseas before - I just thought that the last time I did it, they asked me for my driver’s license as well as my passport at the (U.S.) gate.
While it is presumably true for the OP that he needs only his passport to travel in and out of the US, some of us need more. For example, as a permanent resident I also need to present my green card (permanent resident card). However, I don’t need to present my driver’s license, and from time to time I use my green card as the form of ID to travel on domestic flights: it works just as well as a driver’s license.