British Airways to insist on photo ID for domestic flights from 1st September
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From 1st September, British Airways is making a major change to its ID rules for domestic flights.
At the moment, BA suggests you bring some photo ID with you but it is not compulsory.
From 1st September, the rules change – no acceptable photo ID will presumably mean no travel.

What are the new ID rules for BA domestic flights?
Here are the new rules as shown on this page of ba.com, although they do not actually come into force until 1st September:
You do not require a passport to travel within the UK, but you will need to carry one type of photographic ID when travelling with us. Examples include:
- Valid passport
- Valid driving license [sic], either provisional or full
- Valid EU national identity card
- Valid armed forces identity card
- Valid police warrant card or badge
Children under the age of 16 do not need to show identification when travelling on domestic flights. The adult they are travelling with must travel with photographic identification and be able to confirm their identity.
Children aged 14 and 15 years who are flying alone will need to show identification when travelling on domestic flights.
What are the current ID rules for BA domestic flights?
For comparison, here are the old rules which were removed from ba.com in recent days:
If you are flying solely within the UK, including Northern Ireland, you do not need a passport but we advise that you carry photographic identification with you when travelling, such as your passport or driving licence. This may be requested at certain points in your journey. Children under the age of 16 years do not require identification to travel within the UK.
Communication of this policy change has been poor – I am guessing that 95% of people reading this article will not know about it, even if they have domestic flights booked.
The list of acceptable ID is also quite tight and is, for example, stricter than the new rules for voting. Some people will struggle to comply with these requirements, especially older people who may have given up driving and let their passport expire.
It is not clear what is driving the change. It is not driven by the Civil Aviation Authority, which said in response to a query:
UK aviation security regulations do not require a passenger’s identity to be checked for security purposes prior to boarding a domestic flight, in the same way when travelling within the mainland on a train or bus. Any further requirement on behalf of the carrier to provide identification may be a condition of travel by the carrier itself.
You can find out more on ba.com here.
Hat-tip to Alastair Jamieson of The Independent for doing the digging on this story – his article is here.

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