Are you required by law to show ID to board a plane? The government says that's a secret.

Lawyers for privacy advocate John Gilmore, who is pursuing a lawsuit challenging the government's alleged requirement that airlines ask passengers for identification, filed a motion late Tuesday seeking to keep the case open to public scrutiny.

The motion opposes the federal government's request to present its rebuttal of Gilmore's case to the court alone and in secret.

Justice Department lawyers made the request (.pdf) to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Friday, saying that if the requirement to demand ID exists, it would be in a security directive that is classified as "sensitive security information" that it could not reveal in open court. The government did say, however, it would also file a redacted version of its arguments publicly.

Gilmore first challenged the constitutionality of requiring airlines to ask passengers to show identification in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in July 2002, but the government refused to tell that court whether the rule existed.

more...

http://wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64866,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3

Interesting. The law may or may not exist, but one may still board a plane without ID. I did it once on a business trip when my wallet was lifted. I just called the airport and told them what happened. They just said, no problem-- just come in and let ticketing know.

You will have a "S" on your ticket and have your bags searched at every corner tho.

DM, when did that happen? I did it once too. In 1996.

Just happened to me back in July... granted, it was the PI and it was a PAL domestic flight, but it was still creepy.

E

Happened to me while working in Alabama (I live in boston) in 2002. I even had a connecting flight in DC on the way back home. Pain in the butt getting searched at every point, but they didn't seem too phased by me not having any ID.