I recently renewed my California driver’s license. The clerk punched a hole in the license and gave me a paper "temporary license." I didn’t recall this procedure from my last renewal 10 years ago and assumed my old license would be valid until the printed expiration date several weeks hence. I was mildly surprised when I was asked to show the temporary license when I boarded an airplane from San Francisco to L.A. a few days later (and again when I rented a car), but didn’t give it much thought. You can imagine my surprise, however, when the TSA official at LAX would not allow me to pass through security with my old license and the temporary extension. He said I needed another ID and should not have been allowed through security at SFO with just my old & temporary licenses. I dug through my bag and found that I still had my passport with me from a trip to Canada. Whew.
Is this at all rational? I understand (now) that the hole in my license meant I couldn’t drive with it. But isn’t the photo still me? Even weirder, the TSA guard asked if I had my social security card with me. First, who carries that? Second, it’s a piece of paper I got when I was 12. There’s no photo. The signature doesn’t even look like it’s mine.
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