<p>Time for the annual “Lost drivers license…how to get home by plane?” thread.</p>
<p>I will search. </p>
<p>It’s a California license, student/D is in N.Carolina. California tells her she can only replace in person. N.C. says license/ID “only if you live there”. Any experience with this?</p>
<p>Does she have a passport you could overnight to her?</p>
<p>[TSA:</a> ID Requirements for Airport Checkpoints](<a href=“http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/acceptable_documents.shtm]TSA:”>Identification | Transportation Security Administration)</p>
<p>this is TSA info, I would call the airline and see what they suggest.</p>
<p>Oh dear. My son forgot his learner’s permit when we were looking at colleges. We pretended he wasn’t 18 (after the TSA guy hinted strongly that that was what we needed to do) and he didn’t need to have ID as long as he was with me. (They did give him a thorough body search.)</p>
<p>Our solution was to help D find the license (literally, over the phone, talking through where it might be). She had made a copy of it and left it on her friend’s printer/scanner/copier… I realize that won’t work for every situation, but mom’s do have these long-distance powers sometimes.</p>
<p>Depending on how much time she has left and where she is located, she can get a rush passport. She can either make an appointment at the nearest place to apply in person or she can apply via a post office or community service center and tell the people that she needs it rushed by XX date. There’s more info on the passport website. She’ll have to pay an extra rush fee, but they can turn them around fairly quickly if need be. It’s a special service for people who have to travel within 14 days or less of their application date. You can find more info on the passport State dept. website. </p>
<p>It would be much, much cheaper though to overnight her passport to her if she already has one.</p>
<p>No passport. Good ideas though.</p>
<p>The airports do have ways to deal with this. She should take other photo DI that she has such as the one from the school. The FAA does have a protocol for this becasue a colleague of mine recently lost his wallet and had to go through this. calling ahead is a good idea. Sometimes you can get a faxed copy of the driver’s license.</p>
<p>I know they want to see a government issued ID card. If she is at a state university, that might qualify. call the airport or go on to the FAA website. I don’t know how broadly they share what the criteria are, but I know there is a way because stuff does happen!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>If you are outside of California and lose your license, you can’t replace it until you return. In some cases exceptions to this rule can be made; call (916) 657-7790 for more information. </p>
<p>I wonder what the exceptions are…</p>
<p>'I wonder what the exceptions are… "</p>
<p>I’m hoping it’s if you cry…</p>
<p>…or you’re a famous movie star…</p>
<p>You might want to get her a passport for the future, even if she doesn’t plan to travel internationally. It’s always nice to have a back up plan.</p>
<p>Consider calling the airline and asking them, or checking out their web site. Maybe you can FedEx her a birth certificate, social security card, and maybe she has her school ID too. Not everyone has a drivers license.</p>
<p>Good ideas. I have emailed her this thread.</p>
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<p>I’ve read this also. The person and all of the luggage have to go through a more rigorous search though. Definitely call airlines to ask them what to do.</p>
<p>I lost my drivers license right before going through security on a flight to Phoenix a couple of years ago. I was frantic, thinking I wouldn’t be able to get on the flight, and also worrying if I would be able to get on the flight back home the following week. The TSA agent had me show them every piece of ID I had on me - insurance card, credit card, library card, anything I could find that had my name on it. They took pity on me and did let me board.</p>
<p>Got on the plane, and my D suggested looking through my bag one last time. She found the drivers license tucked inside the pages of a novel I had in my bag. I had apparently dropped it into my open bag and it fell inside the book. What a relief!</p>
<p>I suggest your D call the airport and asking them what she should do.</p>
<p>When I misplaced my drivers license I flew, on two different flights, using a community college ID. I don’t recommend this, but it worked both times.</p>
<p>Last summer our family took a trip to California and 3 Hawaiian Islands. We had spent a few days in LA and the morning of our flight from LAX to Maui, we discovered that my 19 year old son did not have his driver’s license with him (we later discovered it had been left in the room). This discovery was made about 2 hours before flight time. Frantically my husband phoned the airline (no help) and when we checked in the gate agents for American Airlines could not assure him that he would be allowed to board. This was the second leg of 5 or 6 flight segments throughout the course of our trip so this was going to be a problem. My husband and son attempted to go through security and had to explain what had happened. They were taken aside and my son was interviewed by a TSA agent in a private room. The interview asked several questions, some of them odd; things like “what type of car does your mother drive?” They let him through but we were concerned that this would happen everywhere we went . When we reached Honolulu, my son acted like he was under 18 going through security with my husband who handed the agent his i.d. but nothing for my son. The agent let him through. We then had his passport fed ex’d from home so that we had something for the rest of our flight. Just so you know, the airlines DO NOT control the id situation. That is a TSA matter and so the airlines can do nothing for you. Have your child bring another id, anything with a picture on it. They kept asking us if we had anything else with a picture. Not an ideal situation but people lose things all the time. The agent who interviewed him had to clear his name through some central system and they also did background checks on everyone in our party. The agents at LAX took this VERY seriously.</p>
<p>In Minnesota kids under 18 have to get a new license after 2 years. I wonder if the expired license would suffice? I am also wondering if we should have all of our college age kids “pretend” to have lost their license and get a replacement. We could keep the original at home for situations like this. This could work with TSA unless they scan them.</p>
<p>Whatever documentation she ends up using, I would suggest telling her to get to the airport very early.</p>