• The long-awaited Real ID deadline takes effect on Wednesday, May 7.
• As of April, 81% of flyers were already prepared for the new requirements, the TSA said.
• It's still possible to fly if you don't have a Real ID yet. Here's what airlines are saying.

Are you one of the many Americans still without a Real ID? You can likely still fly, but you should probably plan for security delays, and don't count on your airline for much help.

Business Insider has reached out to 12 of the biggest US airlines about how they plan to manage long waits at security checkpoints or confusion at check-in counters. While they can't help you get around federal ID rules, your ticket may offer free changes if you need to delay your trip.

As of April 11, 81% of flyers were already presenting compliant IDs, the Transportation Security Administration said. That means hundreds of thousands more have not yet upgraded their state driver's license or obtained another form of acceptable federal identification.

No airlines have announced across-the-board flexibility for those who cannot fly or miss their flights due to security delays or Real ID issues. Long DMV lines have been reported in some large cities around the country, but they may shorten after the deadline passes.

Depending on the airline, you can opt to move your flight until after you've secured a new state ID. Luckily, many tickets are now cancellable for credit or changeable with no added fees.

What you can use instead of a Real ID, according to the TSA:

• US passport
• US passport card
• A US Department of Defense ID, including those issued to dependents
• DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
• State-issued Enhanced Driver's License or Enhanced ID
• Border crossing card
• Permanent resident card
• An acceptable photo ID issued by a federally recognized Tribal Nation/Indian Tribe, including Enhanced Tribal Cards (ETCs)
• HSPD-12 PIV card
• Foreign government-issued passport
• Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
• Transportation worker identification credential
• US Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
• US Merchant Mariner Credential
• Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC)

The TSA said a temporary driver's license is not accepted. It also warned that this list can change at any time and said travelers should check the agency's website before traveling to verify that their form of ID is still accepted.

You can also get through security without an updated ID, but you will need to answer questions like your name and current address to verify your identity. If your identity is confirmed, you can enter the checkpoint, but you could be subject to extra screening.

This has always been the case (as people who have forgotten their wallets have learned the hard way), but the TSA said this will likely cause delays as more passengers require the alternative method.

Here's what airlines have told us so far about what they're doing in anticipation of Wednesday:

Delta Air Lines

"As we do today, Delta people will work on a case-by-case basis to rebook customers who miss flights due to extenuating circumstances once at the airport," the airline told Business Insider.

Avelo Airlines

Budget carrier Avelo Airlines told BI that it cannot offer a waiver for missed flights due to Real ID requirements, as the new rule has been communicated to customers via email for "a while now."

Customers can pay a fare difference to change or cancel their flights for a travel credit.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest referred BI to Airlines for America or the TSA because Real ID is a government-mandated program.

"We have REAL ID reminders on southwest.com, the app, and throughout the booking process," a spokesperson said.

Sun Country Airlines

A Sun Country spokesperson told BI it would not offer flight waivers if travelers arrive without a Real ID and that its standard change and cancellation policies would apply.

Depending on how far out a flight is, changing your Sun Country booking can cost up to $99 per direction, and customers are responsible for any fare difference.

Flights can be canceled for a fee, and balances from qualified changed or canceled bookings will be issued as a future travel credit.

Job cuts at the US traffic safety regulator instigated by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency disproportionately hit staff assessing self-driving risks, hampering oversight of technology on which the world’s richest man has staked the future of Tesla.

Of roughly 30 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration workers dismissed in February as part of Musk’s campaign to shrink the federal workforce, many were in the “office of vehicle automation safety,” people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times.

The cuts are part of mass firings by Doge that have affected at least 20,000 federal employees and raised widespread concern over potential conflicts of interest for Musk given many of the targeted agencies regulate or have contracts with his businesses.

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• A lawsuit claims United Airlines mistreated two Jewish passengers on a flight from Mexico to Texas.
• One passenger says a pilot forced him out of the airplane bathroom for taking too long.
• The complaint accuses United Airlines and federal agencies of physical harm and discrimination.

An Orthodox Jewish passenger on a United Airlines flight says a pilot forcibly removed him from the airplane's bathroom while he was experiencing constipation.

In a lawsuit filed this week, Yisroel Liebb said the "visibly enraged" pilot broke the lock on the restroom door and forced Liebb out while his pants were around his ankles, exposing his genitalia to other nearby passengers.

Liebb and another passenger he was traveling with, Jacob Sebbag, who is also Jewish, claim they suffered physical injuries, emotional distress, and discrimination at the hands of airline staff and federal agents on the flight from Tulum, Mexico, to Houston, Texas.

According to the complaint, seen by Business Insider, the events unfolded on January 28, 2025, after a flight attendant woke Sebbag and asked him to check on Liebb, who had been in the bathroom for about 20 minutes.

Liebb responded that he was experiencing constipation and would exit shortly, but the pilot demanded he leave immediately, the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs claim that after Liebb was removed from the restroom, the pilot "proceeded to repeatedly push" them back to their seats while making discriminatory remarks about their Judaism.

Upon arrival in Houston, agents from the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and the Transportation Security Administration boarded the plane and restrained Liebb, forced his arms behind his back, and handcuffed him, according to the complaint. Sebbag was also detained after confirming that Liebb was in his phone contacts, the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, both men were placed in separate holding cells, subjected to searches, and endured excessive force, including painfully tight handcuffs.

As a result of their detention, the plaintiffs say they missed their connecting flight and were forced to incur additional expenses.

The lawsuit, filed by the Law Offices of Christian Martinez, PLLC at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, cites violations of the Montreal Convention, which governs international air travel and protects passengers from harm.

Business Insider contacted Martinez's office for comment.

The complaint accuses United Airlines and the federal agencies of physical harm, unlawful detention, and religious discrimination.

The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages for their alleged injuries, emotional distress, and financial losses, arguing that their mistreatment was fueled by discrimination and unnecessary aggression by airline staff and federal authorities.

Business Insider contacted United Airlines, TSA, and DHS for comment.

Consumer advocates and the families of Tesla crash victims both called on Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy this week not to weaken oversight of the automotive industry. As with other government agencies, since the change of administrations in January, much of the messaging from the Department of Transportation has been on overturning regulations on industry and weakening oversight and consumer protection to create a "level... playing field."

On Tuesday, seven family members of people killed or seriously injured as a result of Tesla's Autopilot driver assist wrote to Sec. Duffy with a particular concern: that he not overturn the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Standing General Order that requires automakers or operators to report vehicle crashes that occurred while using a partially automated driving system (like Tesla Autopilot or FSD) or an autonomous driving system (like Waymo's robotaxis).

In particular, the families are concerned that Duffy will give special treatment to Tesla's Elon Musk, who these days is busier poking his fingers into all corners of the federal government than he is running Tesla or SpaceX.

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• Tesla is recalling just over 46,000 Cybertrucks.
• It's the eighth recall for the vehicle since it went on sale in late 2023.
• The NHTSA said an exterior panel could detach and "become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash."

Tesla is recalling around 46,000 Cybertrucks after the transport safety agency warned that an exterior trim panel could detach while the vehicle is in motion.

The NHTSA bulletin said a cant rail — a stainless-steel exterior trim panel — could "become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash."

The recall affects 46,096 Cybertrucks built between November 2023 and February 2025.

The recall report found that the panel was glued to the vehicle using "only a structural adhesive" that's proved "susceptible to environmental embrittlement."

The fix involves using a different glue, along with a bolt.

It's the eighth recall of the Cybertruck since it went on sale in late 2023.

Last November, Tesla issued the sixth recall due to a problem that could cause some to lose drive power suddenly. It affected about 2,400 Cybertrucks.

Cybertrucks were included in a mid-December recall affecting almost 700,000 Teslas over a tire pressure warning-light issue.

The NHTSA said Tesla would replace the cant rail assembly free of charge.

Owners will be notified by mail in May or can contact Tesla customer service, the NHTSA vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or nhtsa.gov.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Transport Security Administration has a freeze on credit card purchases for its bomb-sniffing dogs, TSA confirmed to 404 Media on Friday. The statement follows the leak of an alleged internal email which said TSA was cutting off requests for dog food and vet visits.

A TSA spokesperson told 404 Media: “Our heroic canines are happy, healthy, and funded. Credit card purchases have been restricted for 30 days, but Canine operations have NOT been adversely affected by this effort.” 

This program, called the National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program, is administered by the TSA, and “trains and deploys both TSA-led and state and local law enforcement-led canine teams in support of day-to-day activities that protect the transportation domain,” according to the program’s website.

• There are multiple ways to get through airport security quicker, and we've tried most of them.
• Clear makes the security lines much quicker at some airports.
• TSA PreCheck, however, has the added benefit of a less stressful security process.

Earlier in my career, I worked for big multinational companies, often in global roles requiring extensive domestic and international travel. One year I took 36 flights visiting nine countries on four different continents.

My husband also travels a lot for work, and we like to take family vacations whenever we can.

Between the two of us, we've tried several different ways to skip the line at airport security. Here are our top three favorite methods.

TSA PreCheck is hard to beat.

Available at more than 200 airports across the US, TSA PreCheck is consistently one of the fastest ways to get through airport security.

Depending on which provider you go through, the five-year membership costs between $77 and $85, and renewal rates are $59 to $78.

My husband has TSA PreCheck and raves about it.

Beyond accessing a shorter line — usually a wait time of no more than 10 minutes — there's an added benefit of keeping your shoes and light jackets on and not having to remove liquids or laptops from your bags.

It's nice to avoid the post-security scramble of grabbing all of your stuff out of the bins and putting your jacket back on while trying not to forget anything.

Clear saves me time.

Clear is a biometric screening service in which members scan their eyes and fingerprints at a pod to be escorted to the front of the security line.

Memberships cost $200 a year, and the service is available at 59 airports across the US. As a bonus, some big stadiums and concert venues also use it.

It may not be available everywhere, but it suits my travel needs pretty well.

Because I live in the Chicago area and write about Disney World, O'Hare International and Orlando International are two of my most frequently visited airports. Both have Clear, which saves me a ton of time — the lines can get hectic in both cities, especially during popular travel days.

I've raced my husband in the Clear line at Orlando to see if it's faster than TSA PreCheck. I almost always get to the scanners first.

However, he usually makes up some of the time by not having to take off his shoes or remove items from his bag.

Flying business or first class has its benefits.

In addition to lounge access, complimentary food and drinks, and better seats, flying business or first class often includes a special security line.

At busy airports, this saves a lot of time and stress.

I've flown business class a few times for work, but these days, I have a much stricter personal travel budget. That said, I think upgrading flights, particularly long international ones, is a great use of airline miles.

I've done a 22-hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago in coach and would happily save up points to never do it again.

Overall, line-skipping perks are usually worth it.

Waiting in line is just part of most airline travel. If you're looking for the absolute fastest way to avoid that, I think investing in Clear and bundling a membership with TSA PreCheck is probably your best bet.

There are surely other ways to skip the security line — Global Entry, premier airline status, and random free upgrades, to name a few.

However, regardless of which one works best for you, I think they're almost always worth it. Making a travel day even just a little less stressful is pretty priceless.

• Nearly half the team regulating self-driving cars was fired in the layoff of federal workers last month.
• One terminated NHTSA employee said the firings would slow down companies trying to deploy robotaxis, including Tesla.
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk is leading efforts to slash the federal workforce with DOGE.

Job cuts imposed by Elon Musk's DOGE will slow down the deployment of self-driving vehicles on US roads, a terminated federal worker told Business Insider.

The Office of Automation Safety, which develops regulations for autonomous vehicles, lost three of its seven employees during a Valentine's Day cull of government workers, a person with knowledge of the cuts said.

The office is part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which regulates vehicle safety and lost about 4% of its workers in the February 14 layoffs.

"There was a massive push in the government over the past year to hire people from the actual autonomous vehicle industry to assist in regulating and understanding it. Since the government fired all recently hired employees, almost all of that private sector knowledge is now gone," the terminated worker said.

They said the cuts had left the office "extremely understaffed" with less specialized knowledge about the autonomous vehicle sector.

BI has viewed the person's termination letter. They did not want to be named for fear of affecting their future employment prospects.

The Washington Post previously reported on the firings. They were part of a wider push that saw thousands of probationary federal workers lose their jobs. They had typically been in their roles for less than two years.

It comes as DOGE moves forward with its efforts to cut the size of the government, despite legal opposition and concern that Musk's efficiency efforts are targeting agencies that regulate Tesla, SpaceX, and his other companies.

Robotaxi roadblock

Companies building autonomous vehicles face a daunting patchwork of state and federal regulations.

Those wanting to deploy fully driverless vehicles that lack traditional controls such as steering wheels or pedals, such as Tesla's Cybercab or the now-scrapped Cruise Origin vehicle, need to apply for an exemption to federal regulations.

The exemption process, which is handled by the Office of Automation Safety, can be lengthy. Cruise waited two years for permission to deploy the Origin before ultimately scrapping it.

Musk has called for an overhaul of federal autonomous vehicle regulations, telling investors last October he would "try to help make that happen" through his role at DOGE.

In November, Bloomberg reported that easing rules around self-driving cars was a major priority for the incoming Trump administration.

Tesla is gearing up to deploy fully driverless vehicles for the first time in June with a robotaxi service in Austin.

Musk's automaker is also facing NHTSA investigations into its Full Self-Driving and Autopilot assisted driving tech, although those investigations are handled by a separate department to the Office of Automation Safety.

The job losses risk ceding the initiative on robotaxis to China, which is also heavily invested in developing autonomous vehicles, the terminated NHTSA employee said.

"When they do stuff like this, where they claim that it's a regulatory goal to further the deployment of autonomous vehicles, but then they fire the team that's responsible for that — that's just going to let China get further ahead," the individual said.

An NHTSA spokesperson said despite the layoffs, the agency's workforce remained "considerably" larger than it was at the start of the Biden administration.

"We have retained positions critical to the mission of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes. We will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment, in accordance with the Vehicle Safety Act and our data-driven, risk-based investigative process," they told BI.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at tcarter.41. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• The agency responsible for regulating vehicle safety has cut 4% of its workforce.
• The NHTSA has multiple investigations into Tesla including two about its self-driving tech.
• The firings come as Elon Musk's DOGE makes sweeping cuts across the federal government.

The agency responsible for regulating vehicle safety and is investigating Tesla has cut staff as Elon Musk's DOGE continues to make sweeping changes to the federal workforce.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fired 4% of its workers on February 14, an individual with knowledge of the cuts told Business Insider.

The agency, which is responsible for ensuring vehicle safety in the US, has three active investigations into Tesla.

These include an investigation into Tesla's Actually Smart Summon (ASS) feature, which allows drivers to fetch their cars remotely using their smartphone, and investigations into the Full-Self Driving and Autopilot technology.

Cuts to the NHTSA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, come as the Trump administration continues efforts to slash the federal workforce, with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency leading the charge.

The new administration fired thousands of probationary federal employees, who have typically been in their roles for less than two years, across multiple agencies on February 13.

Musk's DOGE, meanwhile, has made broad cuts across multiple departments as it seeks to eliminate what it says is government waste.

On Saturday, Musk sent out an email to federal employees asking them to list what work they accomplished in the past week, with the Tesla CEO posting on X that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation.

It is not clear whether the NHTSA layoffs affected teams specifically involved in regulating Tesla. A review of LinkedIn profiles by BI suggests that some of the federal workers let go by the NHTSA had been in their roles for less than a year.

An NHTSA spokesperson told BI that despite the job cuts, the agency remained larger than it was at the start of Joe Biden's presidency and had grown 30% during his administration.

"We have retained positions critical to the mission of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes. We will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment," the spokesperson said.

NHTSA is responsible for overseeing vehicle recalls for automakers.

It issued 932 safety recalls, affecting almost 31 million vehicles in 2022 per the agency's website. Over the past year, Tesla has issued multiple recalls for its Cybertruck, Model Y, and Model 3 vehicles.

The NHTSA, which has between 500 and 1,000 employees according to its LinkedIn page, also sets rules on autonomous vehicles and robotaxis.

The Washington Post reported that the small team overseeing self-driving vehicles within NHTSA has been cut in half as a result of the layoffs. The agency declined to comment to the outlet about that point.

Tesla is set to enter the robotaxi market this year. Musk told investors that the EV maker plans to launch an autonomous ride-hailing vehicle service in Austin in June.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Do you work at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and have information to share? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or tcarter.41 on Signal.

Some Tesla owners have yet another thing to worry about. As sales crash in Europe and protests gather outside Tesla showrooms in the US as a result of the CEO's political engagement, it now emerges that more than 376,000 Model Y crossovers and Model 3 sedans are at risk for power steering failure. So far, it has resulted in more than 3,000 warranty claims and caused 570 crashes, according to Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Federal investigators have known about the problem for some time—in 2023 NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened a preliminary inquiry after 12 reports of steering failures, including three Model 3s and nine Model Ys.

By February 2024, NHTSA had received 124 complaints about steering failure in 2023 Teslas and found another 2,264 reports of steering problems. Color me wrong, though—at the time, I wrote that "a software patch is unlikely to help," except a software patch is indeed the remedy here.

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President Donald Trump has chosen Jonathan Morrison, an Apple executive, to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, per a Senate filing. The nomination will be reviewed and voted on by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation before being sent for a full Senate vote.  If he’s sworn in, Morrison will oversee an […]

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In early February, a dataset tracking car crash deaths in the US curiously went missing from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website.

Unlike other Donald Trump-ordered changes to government websites in which entire studies were removed and later court-ordered to be restored, only the most recent data on car crash deaths from 2022 was deleted from download files on NHTSA's website.

The odd removal sparked concerns that the Trump administration may be changing or possibly even ending the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)—a collection of police-reported data from every state that has tracked car crash fatalities since 1975. The Health department has said the data is used to help reduce deaths from not wearing a seatbelt or deaths involving a drunk driver.

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A U.S. federal safety regulator has “upgraded” its investigation into Ford’s hands-free advanced driver assistance system known as BlueCruise — a required step before a recall can be issued. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation launched a probe into Ford BlueCruise last April after the agency confirmed the system was active […]

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• The TSA said it intercepted 6,678 firearms at airport security checkpoints last year.
• It was a small decrease from last year — but incidents have doubled since 2015.
• The most firearms, 440, were detected at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration intercepted 6,678 firearms at airport checkpoints last year, it announced Wednesday.

That's an average of more than 18 firearms a day.

The agency screened more than 904 million people, meaning there was an average rate of 7.4 firearms per every million people.

It added that 94% of the firearms were loaded.

The figures for 2024 represent a slight decrease from last year's record 6,737 — but only by 0.9%.

Nonetheless, it is still the only year in the past decade — except for 2020, when travel was crippled by the pandemic — that has seen a drop in the number of firearms detected at airports.

The figure has more than doubled since 2015.

One of the TSA's interceptions last year included an airline crew member carrying a loaded 9mm handgun at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The TSA also released statistics for which airports see the most firearms.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta Air Lines' primary hub, saw the most at 440. It was closely followed by the 390 at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, which is American Airlines' biggest hub.

Four of the top 10 airports were in Texas, while two were in Florida.

The TSA said that when a firearm is found at an airport security checkpoint, law enforcement will be contacted and remove the passenger from the area.

In addition to any action taken by local law enforcement, passengers who bring a firearm to a security checkpoint face a fine of up to $15,000.

"One firearm at a checkpoint is too many," said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. "Firearms present a safety risk for our employees and everyone else at the checkpoint. It's also costly and slows down operations."

"If individuals who carry a firearm intend to travel, we remind them that the firearm must be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case, declared to the airline at the check-in counter, and transported in checked baggage," he added.

Tesla is the target of yet another federal safety probe, the fourth currently open by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation. Today's trouble concerns the automaker's "Smart Summon" and "Actually Smart Summon" features, which allow Tesla drivers to remotely control their vehicles via a smartphone app.

At least in theory, that is. In practice, NHTSA says it's aware of multiple crash allegations "where the user had too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement."

Worse yet, Tesla has failed to report any of these incidents to the safety regulator, which has a standing general order that requires any automaker or operator of autonomous or partially automated vehicles to report crashes involving such systems that occur on publicly accessible roads.

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