New ID And Travel Docs Needed To Fly Out Of Denver International

If you remember traveling in a pre-9/11 world, getting through security and on a plane was a pretty simple experience.

After 9/11, everything changed and it took a lot of people a long time to get used to some of the new restrictions, like how much liquid you could bring through security, taking off shoes and other big changes. Sure enough though, in time, we've all gotten used to it.

Gone were the days of simply needing a birth certificate to travel internationally... in time, we've all needed to get a passport to go to even Mexico or Canada.

Now in 2025, more changes are coming to what types of documentation you're going to need to travel - not just internationally, but even domestically.

Effective May 7, 2025 for example, for domestic flights you will need to have a "Real ID" driver's license, which is indicated by a star in the upper right hand corner. Odds are if you've gotten a new license in the recent past, you already have what you need. But if it's been a while, you're going to need to renew your license before you can fly. This change has actually been in the works for some time.

The other big change has to do with traveling to Europe or the UK specifically. Effective sometime after April, US citizens traveling out of the country to the UK will need to have an Electronic Travel Authorization, which is ultimately digitally attached to your passport and costs $10.

The general European version of that for all other European destinations - keeping in mind the UK withdrew from the EU, so it's separate - will come from the European Travel Information and Authorization System.

Confusing as it all may seem now, so was remembering you could only bring 3 oz. of toothpaste through security at one point. Now that's easy. This will be too, eventually.