Carding

Day #76 - Saturday, April 9, 2022

Carding

Today we visited a local indoor family entertainment place to celebrate my 9 year old nephew's birthday.  There's a bar for the adults, arcade games, giant TV screens, food, and lots of noise.  

Leland decided to purchase an adult drink.  The bartender asked to see his ID, even though at 80 he obviously looks over 21. Leland refused, given the unexpected request. The bartender mentioned she's required to verify the person she's serving has an ID on them.  She then proceeded to serve him the beer he'd requested.

I was surprised at the insistence of the ID request. Having lived as an undocumented immigrant for over 7 years in my life, I'm sensitive to this topic.  

Curiously I experienced traveling from New York City without documents the last time we visited in early March.  I left my iPhone with my updated California driver's license, which is federally approved for travel and my platinum American Express credit card in the Lyft we took to the airport.  We couldn't reach the driver, and our flight was coming up soon.  

I called the American Express Premium Global Assist® Hotline to cancel my credit card, and get help.  The person assisting mentioned that I could travel without an ID, I'd just have to go through a different screening process.  

We checked both pieces of luggage under Leland's name, given that I didn't have an ID. The airline couldn't put my luggage under my name.  They also couldn't give me a boarding pass, but that wasn't an issue given that I had already printed one from the kiosk.  We walked to the TSA agent, who asked me to wait as a supervisor would have to handle my case.  

Once the TSA supervisor arrived, he asked me to fill out a form, and sign it.  I mentioned I had Global Entry, and I'd been able to enter the country just by having my face scanned. He asked me not to worry, as traveling without an ID after having lost it is pretty common.   He called Washington DC, and he asked me to identify myself including my birthday, home address, and a landmark in my hometown that didn't include the name of the town or the state in its name.   

After completing the identification, I proceeded to have a secondary inspection of my self and my belongings. My belongings were swabbed, and tested.  It was quite an experience to witness myself go through this process without fear given that I am no longer undocumented, I had just misplaced my documents.

Leland and I made our flight.  We even had time to use the lounge, which I've found is a valuable perk to have from the American Express Platinum credit card given how much we've traveled.   The only reason we got it was to be able to access their Global Assist® Hotline in the event of an emergency while traveling.  I just never expected losing my iPhone, ID, and credit card in a Lyft would be such an emergency.

Have you ever found yourself without an ID when needed?