Louisiana residents can now breeze through TSA checkpoints across the United States with the LA Wallet app. Beginning today, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is accepting mobile driver’s licenses and identification cards in LA Wallet at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and 26 other participating airports across the United States. REAL ID-compliant credentials are required to utilize LA Wallet on TSA equipment at MSY.
Residents with LA Wallet now have the option to present their mobile driver’s license or ID card at select TSA checkpoints by tapping their phone or scanning the QR code in the app. The TSA reader at the security checkpoint will take the traveler’s photo. Once the Credential Authentication Technology Reader (CAT-2) confirms the identity match, a TSA officer will verify the match and the passenger will proceed to security screening. The traveler’s photo and personal information is deleted after each transaction. That information will not be shared with other entities and will not be used for law enforcement purposes or surveillance.
Currently, all passengers must continue to have their physical IDs on hand. If a digital ID cannot be verified at the TSA security checkpoint, a passenger must use an acceptable physical identity document (e.g., driver’s license, passport) to proceed through the identity verification process.
Louisiana becomes the eighth state that offers digital IDs with TSA CAT-2 interoperability. The other states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland and Utah. Travelers with a state-issued mobile DL in those states are eligible to use the CAT-2 unit’s reader as an alternative to providing a physical photo ID and boarding pass to the TSA officer for identity verification. Currently, MSY is the only airport in Louisiana utilizing CAT-2 digital ID readers.
Beginning on May 7, 2025, the only state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards federal agencies will accept for official purposes are those that meet REAL ID standards. OMV is urging all residents to consider a REAL ID-compliant credential when renewing their license or identification card. LOUIE, the Louisiana OMV REAL ID virtual expert at www.expresslane.org/REALID, is waiting to help Louisiana residents identify which documents they need.
Louisiana residents can download the mobile driver’s license app from LA Wallet at no cost from the Apple App Store or Google Play. For more information on LA Wallet, visit lawallet.com. For additional information on all digital identity solutions accepted at select TSA checkpoints, visit tsa.gov/digital-id.