Oklahoma too! http://kfor.com/2017/10/19/oklahoma-granted-real-id-extension-until-oct-2018
My husband doesn’t fly that often but have taken a couple of trips this last year that I’ve insisted we fly rather than drive. I’d still like him to get the passport just in case.
Thanks @“Iron Maiden” - I only checked because you posted about Maine
@swimcatsmom, I’d still recommend that your husband get one if you are planning a trip home prior to the extension deadline. A good friend of ours was in the UK on a trip for business and was in a serious car crash a few years ago. His wife didn’t have a passport and was delayed getting to him as a result. He ended up in hospital there for several weeks. Another friend was in the UK, also on business and had a heart attack. Her husband, again with no passport, was unable to get there quickly. Anecdotal, yes but still a good idea to be prepared! Also a good idea if you have children who travel internationally.
Its a good thought. He doesn’t travel back to the UK any more because of his health. Can not do the long flight and can’t walk more than very short distances which makes visiting London a bit pointless. But if some emergency happened it would be nice to have the option.
Interesting. This is the first I’d heard of it.
I think all the states will end up with an extension but at some point every single person will have to get a new driver’s license that is compliant. It could prove to be a money maker.
Pennsylvania just got an extension, too. We are all flying in June and I had told son (who lives in PA) that he would need to get his passport before then. Now it’s not quite so urgent, but I think I will still encourage him to do so, and I may get mine as well. http://wnep.com/2017/10/19/pennsylvania-receives-drivers-license-extension/
It will also cost a lot. CA alone is budgeting $200m for the transition.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article150306547.html
It surprises me how many Americans do not have a passport.
^Well, they’re expensive, so I wouldn’t have got one if I didn’t have plans to travel outside the country. I have a lot of friends who never leave the US. Ha, once I asked a 20-something how far east he’d been and he said, “Washington, D.C.”!
Doesn’t surprise me at all. Most Americans can only dream of international travel.
What surprises me or maybe not, is that the states have had 15 freakin’ years to make their Driver’s Licenses compliant with Real ID and they have not done it yet.
Wanna bet the airline industry will push for extensions too? (If they are looking at decreased sales because travelers don’t have valid ID).
Yay! For a change our state IS compliant with Real ID and our drivers licenses are fine! This is surprising to me as we are often behind in such things. I also have a passport since we have been to Canada, S Korea and Taiwan in the past few years and plan to go to a few more countries.
Our whole family has passports. I made sure the boys renewed theirs this summer. Told them next renewal (in 10 years) is on them. The boys take their passports with them to college, since they have options for international travel during the summer and may fly from college rather than from home.
Our state is one that just got an extension. My license is good for 7 more years. Not sure if I’m going to renew it sooner. I may go get my picture retaken soon though. I’ve lost over 60 lbs since January when my license renewed.
Both our kids have their passports, since S travels WAY more than us, including internationally. D likes having it in case some opportunity arises. She has traveled internationally.
For folks who don’t ever travel internationally, I’m sure they don’t see the point of extra expense.
Europeans are always very surprised to hear how few Americans (relatively speaking) have passports and travel abroad. I may have gotten a bit defensive (although I’ve traveled overseas my whole life) and pointed out that:
Europeans live in much smaller countries, easier for them to travel “internationally”
Americans didn’t need passports until recently to visit the closest foreign countries to their borders, Mexico and Canada
Europeans have more vacation time, so they can do all their family visiting AND foreign travel withing their allotted vacations
America is a huge and varied country: we’ve got fabulous beaches, deserts, mountains and cities with specific and exotic flavors. It takes longer to explore Americans’ own country just because it’s bigger. And we’ve got less vacation… so –
(This is just my way of explaining about the American passport thing. Because it’s often used as an example of American provincialism, and that’s not really fair.)
@katliamom - I use pretty much the same explanation. 
No, we don’t live behind an Iron Curtain. We just have so much to explore on our own turf that shelling out the $$ for something that may or may not be used is not wise - we wait until we need it.
Europeans need passports or identity cards just in order to check into a hotel in their own country! The passport then gets scanned on some sort of police or Interpol system. Imagine if we had that in the US!
In the US you do need photo ID to check into a hotel, don’t you? It doesn’t get scanned for any agency (that I know of) but don’t you need a DL or state ID to check in?
^^All I ever hand over is my credit card.
I am often asked for both an ID and a credit card when checking into a hotel. It doesn’t have to be a DL but can be a military ID or government ID.
My kids had passports when they were little and never used those for international travel, but then we got second ones and they did travel on them. They got the third ones in order to get DL in Florida, which requires either a passport or an original birth certificate* and it was just easier to get new passports than to get birth certificates, plus we could then use the passports for travel. Since they got those (ages 15 and 16) they’ve each used them multiple times for international travel. They’ve also used them for the I-9s for new jobs.
I always think of the movie Breaking Away when I see a passport used as an ID. The mom in the movie was talking to her ‘townie son’ whose big dream was to race with the Italian racing team, about why she used a passport as an ID at the grocery store instead of a DL. She said it made her feel empowered, that she could go anywhere, anytime. She didn’t, she just stayed in Bloomington IN, but she COULD go to Paris or Rome immediately if the opportunity arose and using her passport let the lady in the grocery store know that.
*Note to those of you whose states aren’t yet REAL ID compliant but will be converting. You may need to show a passport or a certified birth certificate or some other document that shows you are a citizen when you get your new license. They don’t just take an old license as proof of legal status. Getting a passport now may save you time later. It will also help avoid the long lines when everyone else in your state is trying to get a new passport to get a new license. We got my kids’ second passports right when they changed the rules about traveling to Mexico and Canada and EVERYONE and their cousin was getting a passport to go to Mexico for spring break (we were going to China). The lines at the post office were really long and it took about 8 weeks to get the passports back rather than the normal 2-3 weeks. Get a passport now, avoid the rush.
Tatin - most US hotels nowadays require some form of an ID, let me guess to make sure the cc is not stolen.