British Airways to require photo ID for domestic flights from 1st September

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Paul says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:12

  This is insane and the lack of communication and speed of implementation will lead to issues. For example at what stage in the journey will my ID be checked at say, Glasgow when I checkin on line and see no staff till the gate.Are the seriously stupid enough to demand this at the gate along with managing the chaotic boarding procedures and hand baggage madness!

  There is also a civil liberties issue, while I’d support the introduction of an ID card the fact is we don’t have them and are not required to carry any ID at any stage in normal life.

  This feels very wrong!

  • WillPS says:

    25 Aug25 August 15:17

    Better than Ryanair, where no valid passport = no flight, even within the common travel area.

  • Stu_N says:

    25 Aug25 August 15:24

    Both EasyJet and FlyBe (RIP) have required this for years on domestic flights. Pax just flash a driving licence or passport alongside their boarding pass as it was scanned at the gate.

    The cursory check doesn’t cause any delays for them so no idea why it would for BA. Indeed a decent proportion of passengers show ID at boarding on BA flights anyway as the habit is so ingrained across the industry.

    • CamFlyer says:

      25 Aug25 August 16:26

      I recall a similar policy when flying Aurigny to the Channel Islands. They were fine with a wide range of documents, even an official enough looking office ID.

      • QFFlyer says:

        25 Aug25 August 23:05

        Only domestic UK I was ever checked on was JER, and the cops were more interested in seeing whether I had shitloads of tobacco on me than my ID.

    • John says:

      26 Aug26 August 08:14

      easyJet doesn’t require id on domestics if you have no checked luggage. Source – me in several flights in 2023

• Harry T says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:12

  Seems a bit of an odd change of policy with no clear advantage for BA. I suspect they will row back on this soon enough. More 4D chess from BA management 😂

  • Stu_N says:

    25 Aug25 August 15:27

    Maybe they have an issue with impersonation to get status benefits, or people swapping/selling tickets without paying for a name change?

    • PH says:

      25 Aug25 August 20:23

      If other major airlines do it, BA would be hammered in the press for not doing it if there was some kind of serious incident involving a passenger

      • Brian W says:

        26 Aug26 August 00:12

        What other ‘Major Airlines’ are doing it PH? Can’t think of any others that fly domestically into LHR or LCY. What about Avanti West Coast and LNER, should they be enforcing ID checks now incase there is a ‘serious incident’?

• Fraser says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:25

  Sure, most passengers will have a passport but the lack of notice and notification will catch a lot of people out.

  Since there’s no legal requirement to carry ID in the UK, and no requirement to have a passport or driving license as a passenger on a plane, plus we’re not in the EU, this is certainly a civil liberties infringement (assuming you’re not in the armed forces or police).

  I am strongly opposed to the introduction of compulsory ID, and the voting regulations are just a copycat of the US attempt to exclude certain people from being eligible to vote. I vote by post, so can do so without ID, but wish the public would be a bit more proactive and oppose this by turning up en mass to vote, being turned away, and seeing for instance 1% turnout, but 70% turned away at the polling stations.

  What’s next, passports and scanners at train stations?

  What is BA’s explanation for this needless policy change?

  • Bagoly says:

    25 Aug25 August 22:27

    The mot obvious case I can think of where the list of allowable IDs will be a problem is those old enough (and sensible enough) to have given up driving, during the time they are renewing their passport.

  • Can2 says:

    26 Aug26 August 06:51

    +1

  • RussellH says:

    26 Aug26 August 10:29

    Not just people who have permanently handed in their driving licence.
    Once you reach 70 you have to get a new licence every 3 years.
    Issuing the new licence is supposed to take no more than 2 weeks, but you are also supposed to return the old licence either with the paper application or once the online application is done.
    Just had to apply for my post 76 licence, but will wait until Tuesday before posting the old one back, en route to the station for a 2 week alpine rail trip.

• MT says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:26

  Surely people were not gaming the system and booking flights to earn avios and tier points under other peoples names as that is about the only reason I can see BA putting this system into place. It had no other benefit as it will also slow the boarding process down rather than speed it up and lets face it BA struggle at the best of times to manage to get a plane boarded and away ontime!

• Nick says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:27

  Did you copy and paste the list from ba.com? If so I’m unsurprised but disappointed that they couldn’t spell licence correctly. We’re talking about British domestic flights, not American ones.

  • Rob says:

    25 Aug25 August 15:36

    Yup …..

• Ian says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:40

  It’s nothing more than a revenue protection measure to make sure the person who said they would be travelling actually is. It brings BA into line with virtually every other UK domestic operator and I don’t blame them for implementing it.

  • Brian W says:

    26 Aug26 August 00:17

    Nonsense comment, easyJet haven’t asked me for ID on domestic flights for years. Neither did FlyBe before their first and second exit.

    • Andrew says:

      26 Aug26 August 01:11

      Easyjet have denied me from a flight for not having ID before – my first ever flight back in 2014, too!

      • Gordon says:

        26 Aug26 August 07:38

        My only domestic flight was back in 2007, with EasyJet one way from STN to NCL for a vehicle purchase and I had to show my passport, so thought this was the norm anyway….

• SamG says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:41

  I suspect they’ve identified some kind of trickery going on with people buying cheap domestic tickets and then selling them on at the last minute or people booking tickets for others so they get the TPs

  This doesn’t mean they’re actually going to check on all flights. Easyjet does not check at the gate since COVID so HBO you wouldn’t get checked.

• PIL says:

  25 Aug25 August 15:42

  Nothing wrong with asking valid aId whilst travelling by plane. It has definitely been communicated poorly and we will see many articles on mainstream media about denied boarding in the not so distant future.

  For anyone that feels this is an infringement on their civil liberties, they can always use other means of transport, aviation throughout uses identification.

  • PIL says:

    25 Aug25 August 15:46

    *In the US and EU

  • QFFlyer says:

    25 Aug25 August 23:07

    Agree, civil liberties nothing, nobody has a god given right to fly anywhere.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.