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Comment by thecopy | Hacker News Reader

TSA and airport security-theatre in the USA is such a mind-boggling concept to me. Im flying a lot within Europe, especially between Sweden and Switzerland, and i have never had to show my passport to anyone. More often than not they don't check the fluids in my carry-on, and i get to keep my shoes on. The security check usually takes 5-10 minutes including the time spent queuing.

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I fly frequently in the US, if you pay for TSA pre they don't check fluids below the limit, don't take anything out of your bag and you keep your shoes on. My average time in line is about 6 minutes (mostly driven up by a time where I left water in my bottle at Denver airport).

No one has to show a passport as long as your ticket is going somewhere in the US. Even the state licenses that don't meet the federal standard have been grandfathered into it for a few years, so they can fix it at the state level rather than pissing off voters.

I'm British and fly in and around Europe multiple times per year and I've never not had to show my passport - even when flying to Northern Ireland.

Well, as you should know, the UK is a special case because the concessions it has demanded from the EU include not opening its borders like other Schengen countries. Thus, normal border controls for people traveling between the UK and continental EU. And NI, of course, is an even more special case due to the conditions of the Good Friday agreement. In the Brexit negotiations the question of what to do with NI borders seems to be one of the most hairy ones.

Huh, have you flown Ryanair? I think they demand a passport from everyone.

In Europe (Schengen) you need not a passport (in the sense of a document valid for crossing a border) but you still need an ID card (all countries in Europe have these AFAIK) when boarding a plane.

There was a lot of fuzz here in Italy some ten years ago about Ryan Air not accepting as ID some particular forms of ID cards because of some fine interpretation of the Law.

In Italy a number of documents (driving license, boat driving license, other kinds of government issued ID cards, such as police ID cards, gun carrying permit, or similar) are considered as substituting the national ID card for the identification of someone, but for taking a plane only the national ID card (or a passport) is considered valid.

I never shown my ID to anyone when flying between ZRH and ARN. When flying from Nice I had to present it though, but they barely looked, and just waved me through.

I know you can fly without a passport within Schengen, I just meant that Ryanair appear to unilaterally require one even within Schengen.

I fly a couple times a year between Italy and Spain with Ryan Air and my national issued ID card is OK.

From Ryan Air site: https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/terms-...

>INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL - TRAVEL DOCUMENTS ACCEPTED :

A valid passport (Note: all non EU passport holders, travelling into a Schengen member country are obliged to ensure that their passport is valid for at least 3 months from the date of their departure from the Schengen member country. This requirement does not apply to holders of a Schengen issued residence permit or long term visas).

A valid National Identity Card issued by the government of a European Economic Area (EEA) country. (Only the following EEA countries currently issue National Identity Cards acceptable for carriage on Ryanair flights: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. The validity of French National ID cards (issued for adults) has been extended from 10 years to 15 years ONLY for cards issued between 2nd January 2004 and 31st December 2013. ...

The request for passport probably derives from the UK seemingly not issuing a suitable national ID card.

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