What To Do About Expired Identification?

This week, TraveLaw Online’s Doug Crozier and Tim Law of Heifetz, Crozier, Law respond to a question from a reader who asks how they should advise clients who are travelling by air, but both their passport and their driver’s licence have expired.

Q: Some clients have no Passport, and a Driver’s Licence that has expired and has not been renewed due to COVID-caused shutdowns by the various provincial governments. If they are now to fly domestically, what can we tell them about the boarding problems they might run into at the airport?

A: For domestic flights, government-issued photo ID that has expired will be accepted provided expiry occurred after March 1 of this year. This temporary concession has been extended once, to August 31, 2020, and might be extended again.

To qualify, the (expired) photo ID must be issued by the federal, or a provincial/territorial, government, and show the bearer’s full name and date of birth. There are quite a few types of government-issued documents that qualify, but hunting, boating and fishing licences do not.

If such photo ID is not available, a domestic passenger can produce instead two pieces of government-issued documentation, both of which must have the traveller’s name, and at least one must display the date of birth.

NOTE:  The passenger’s name on the documentation that is being proffered by way of ID must match the name on the air ticket, as well as the boarding pass.

If you have a question, you can contact Crozier or Law at [email protected] or connect with Bob Mowat at Canadian Travel Press/Baxter Media at [email protected].

Heifetz, Crozier, Law is a Toronto law firm that has for years represented all aspects of the Canadian travel industry. The lawyers at HCL also maintain a non-travel practice, covering litigation, real estate, Wills, corporate/commercial matters, etc. To contact HCL, e-mail [email protected].