I realize that we have veered off the original topic, but a few notes about some points that have been made.

1. Real ID continues to receive push back from the States, so it will not be implemented anytime soon. Can you imagine the chaos if the Feds decided to do so and all the residents of States with non-compliant IDs could no longer use them to travel, etc.? Not that many of us actually have an alternative such as a passport. So the Feds continue to say they are acting benevolently in extending the implementation when in actuality the States are raising the unfunded mandate issues.

2. If you don't want to carry your passport all the time, consider getting a passport card. That works for the TSA ID check and the card does not have your address on it like your driver's license does.

3. Merchants are in violation of their agreements with credit card companies if they require to see your ID to complete the sale e.g. MasterCard (however, Discover does permit this, which is one reason I don't have one). I have had some issues with merchants (e.g. Fry's), but have always been successful to date.

Now for my TSA ID check comment. They are fairly worthless. The TSA's mission is to keep WEI (weapons, explosives and incendiaries) off of planes and out of the airside areas of airports. ID checks do not further this mission. In addition, they are not checking against a database, they are checking one piece of paper against another to see if they match. And yes, you can fly if you have no ID; otherwise what happens to those that lose their ID on a trip?