A new TSA fee took effect February 1, but recruits headed to basic training won’t have to pay — and will even get expedited screening.
After nearly two decades of warnings, the REAL ID requirement officially went into full effect for domestic air travel in 2025. However, Reuters reports that roughly 6% of U.S. travelers are typically not in compliance with the new ID rules on any given day. Travelers who showed up at airport security without compliant identification were initially allowed through with extra screening and warnings. As of February 1, 2026, however, that grace period has ended — and flying without proper ID now comes with a $45 fee for that extra vetting. Not everyone, though, will be required to pay it.
According to a Pentagon official, the Defense Department is teaming up with the TSA to allow recruits headed to basic training who don’t have a REAL ID to get through airport security without having to pay a fee.
Under the new process, which began on Feb. 1, recruits from all military branches will not be required to have a REAL ID if they’re en route to basic training. They will also receive “white glove” treatment (read: expedited security screening) at TSA security checkpoints, the Pentagon official said.
“These young men and women have volunteered to serve our nation,” Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata said in a statement. “When they are shipping out to basic training, we want them focused on the fight, not worried about what type of ID they have or whether they will need to pay a fee to make it there. It is our duty to take care of these brave young men and women from the moment they sign up to protect all of us.”
“From the moment these brave men and women volunteer to serve our nation, we want them focused on the fight, not about what type of ID they have,” Defense Department Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote on X.
Our take on this
Many new recruits are young – 18 or 19 years old – and may or may not have had the time, money or wherewithal to get proper identification that would typically be needed to get through TSA. The vetting of a new recruit is obviously high enough to allow them to enter the armed services, and if they have to fly to get to basic training, it makes sense to let them through without paying the extra $45.
“TSA is honored to be a part of the journeys young men and women take to reach initial military training and begin their service in America’s armed forces,” Michael Turner, TSA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Domestic Aviation Operations, said in a statement.
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