Americans have been preparing for the new TSA regulations that need REAL ID as a new form of identification in order to board domestic flights. Nevertheless, many were left wondering why the name was written in capital letters as they rushed to obtain the ID before the impending changes.
It appears to be an abbreviation for something technical that is much more difficult to pronounce because all the letters were capitalized. For instance, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). However, that isn’t true.
“The one question we all want to know… Why is REAL ID all in caps?” was the question posted by a user on Reddit’s TSA community. Everyone was left scratching their brains by this. One of the many aspiring comedians were yelling, “BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS TSA LOVES TO YELL!”
Another joked: “They said the president left the caps lock on again by accident.” Trump often capitalizes phrases or sometimes whole sentences in his numerous daily social media posts.
Some individuals took the query seriously, even though they were kidding, stating that it was because that is how the law phrased it.
The 9/11 Commission recommended it, and it was enacted into law in 2005 as the REAL ID Act of 2005. The implementation was ultimately introduced this year after being postponed several times since it was originally planned to be implemented in 2008.
Millions of Americans will continue to use the card bearing the name, which is actually inscribed into law in all capital letters. Homeland Security claims that the state-issued card, which complies with federal law, is a more secure form of identification.
TSA says you don’t need a “real ID” as long as you have one of these: pic.twitter.com/n31M3aJgUg
— resin rina 🧈 (@ResinRina) May 7, 2025
¨The whole idea here is to better validate those individuals that were encountering a checkpoint to ensure they are who exactly they say they are,” said Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director in New Jersey.
According to Carter, people without a REAL ID should allow more time to get through security. “If they do that, I do not have a belief that this will cause people to miss their flights if they take that additional time in,” he said.
So far, so good at BNA this morning. Most passengers have been compliant with the new Real ID enforcement. While not everyone has a Real ID, TSA says they’ve seen plenty of passports and military ID cards, both acceptable forms of ID for air travel.
More on @FOXNashville! pic.twitter.com/o6pbaS8uMI
— Madeleine Nolan (@MaddieNolanTV) May 7, 2025
In addition to being a legitimate form of identification for domestic travel, a REAL ID will be required for entry to specific federal buildings and institutions.
According to Johnson, the agency has noticed a notable surge in REAL ID requests in the last several weeks. According to her, the number of REAL ID applications has nearly doubled to over 99,000 in April from over 48,000 in February.
