Southwest, Philadelphia, Successful, 9/31/07

Airline: Southwest
Airport: Philadelphia
ID Offered: None
Date: 9/31/07
Reference: Personal
Reason given: Fly as a selectee/without ID
Result: Successful
Description: As at Midway, Southwest handled my request to fly without ID as a selectee quickly and without a single word. However, this time, instead of stamping and writing on my boarding pass, the agent printed a new boarding pass with "SSSS" printed on it. I noticed upon getting up to security that TSA is now checking all IDs (on my return to Midway, I noticed the same there. See my post about this). I pointed the "SSSS" out to the TSA lady, and she wrote "No ID" a bit bigger on the pass and sent me down the same line as everyone else (this is different than at Midway; also she didn't write anything down). I put my things into the XRay scanner, and the TSA dude looked at my boarding pass and sent me just to the side, where I was quickly patted down (no puffer here); they transferred my bag and about 30 seconds later the explosives test was done and I was sent on my way via a very nice TSA agent. Took maybe one minute more than my traveling companion.

Continental, Philadelphia, January 2007, Successful

Airline: Continental
Airport: Philadelphia
ID Offered: Library of Congress photo ID
Date: January, 2007
Reference: Chris Soghoian
Reason given: Lost ID
Result: Successful
Description:I flew from Philly back to Indianpolis today on Continental, and again got to try out the no ID experience (putting me up to a grand total of 5 flights without any ID at all, and 1 flight with my student ID).

I used the easy check-in machine at the airport to print out my boarding pass (by punching in my confirmation code - no credit card/ID necessary). I then told the Continental employee behind the counter that I had lost my ID at a bar the night before, and that I wasn't going to be able to produce any ID. One key question she (and her supervisor) seemed to find important was if this was my outgoing, or return flight. It seems they're more willing to be a bit flexible if you're 'stranded' somewhere.

Like last time, I told them I had read in the New York times that you can fly without ID if you get a special "SSSS" boarding pass. They didn't seem to be too happy to know that I knew their secret SSSS code...

I had handed over my boarding pass to them, and as she read me the rules, it seemed clear that she wasn't going to give it back to me without any ID. In the end, I handed over my Library of Congress 'reader' photo ID, and she wrote "SSS" (her mistake, not mine) on the boarding pass in ink.

Once I got to the TSA checkpoint, I told them I didn't have a single piece of ID - which worked just fine. Sure, I got checked, but I didn't have to show them anything at all, other than the marked boarding pass.