A Step-By-Step Guide To Using Your Phone To Get Through LAX Security Faster This Christmas

TSA is encouraging Californians to use a Mobile Driver’s License, or mDL, to speed up security at LAX this holiday season. So here's a handy step-by-step guide on how to get it set up.

How do I get it?

The mDL is available through the California DMV Wallet app, which can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store or Google Play.

After downloading the app, users have to create or log into their MyDMV accounts — and then verify their identities in a two-step process.

“It will do a selfie match, so it’ll ask you to scan your face. It’ll ask you to take a photo of the front and back of your driver’s license,” said Steve Gordon, director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. “And generally speaking, it’ll return that very, very quickly to you, and it’ll give you a kind of a thumbs up.”

At that point, the mDL should populate in the app for use. More than 300,000 Californians have downloaded their mDLs since August, when the DMV expanded its pilot program to the public. It’s currently available to up to 1.5 million participants.

Where can I use it?

More than 25 airports across the country are set up to accept mDLs, including LAX and Northern California’s SFO and SJC, meaning travelers could use it on both ends of a trip.

mDLs can also be used to purchase age-restricted items, like alcohol, after the user activates a capability in the app called TruAge — right now, nearly a dozen stores in Southern California accept it.

Download your CA driver's license to your phone for faster screening at LAX.

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Caitlin Plummer

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LAist

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How to use it at LAX

At LAX, the scanners that can read mDLs are only in Terminal 3 and Terminal 7, which have flights operated by Delta and United. Travelers flying out of one of those terminals can ask a TSA agent to point them to the security checkpoints that can read mDLs.

Once at the checkpoint, users will have to use either facial recognition or a passcode to open the app — and after pressing “Show my mDL” on the app’s homepage, they'll get a unique QR code that represents their license. When they place that QR code under the reader, the app will ask for permission to share their data — and when they agree, TSA will be able to see the information on their digital license.

“Now, what’s also happening at the same time is there’s a camera on the unit that’s taking a real-time photo of you. So you’re having a real-time photo taken that’s being compared to the photo on your driver’s license and it does a facial matching to determine if you are the same person that’s on the photo ID,” said Lorie Dankers, a TSA spokesperson for the state of California.

The unit is also connected to the Secure Flight database, which has the information of all ticketed travelers for the next 24 hours — so it can also confirm that the user is ticketed.

“And all of that happens in less than two seconds,” Dankers said.

One of the new scanners that can read Mobile Driver’s Licenses in LAX’s Terminal 7.

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Courtesy of TSA

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Why do this?

The holidays are always a busy time to travel. This year, TSA estimates 1.9 million people will be screened at LAX between Dec. 15 and Jan. 2.

“It’s going to be extremely busy, regardless of which airline you’re traveling or which day you're traveling. In fact, many of the days will have more than 100,000 people who will be screened through the checkpoints,” Dankers said.

She added that using the app will streamline the verification process at security checkpoints, ideally making everything go quicker for everyone.

“For the traveler, the benefit is you’re not handing anything over. You’re not handing over your ID. You’re not handing over a boarding pass,” Dankers said. “The benefit for TSA is we’re using technology to confirm the identity of the traveler, to make sure they are the person who they say they are on their ID, and all of that works together to get travelers to the security checkpoint.”

Will more terminals accept the mDLs in the future?

Dankers doesn’t know the plan for rolling out more scanners at LAX. “What I do know is TSA has procured more of these units, and they are planning to send some to LAX," she said. "We’re planning to expand the availability here, and that will start in the new year."