Q:
On my last trip to Vegas, I lost my driver's license on the first day. I soon learned that it's extremely difficult to survive in Vegas without picture ID. I needed it to check into the hotel, to do any transaction at the player's club, to use my credit card anywhere, etc. Luckily, I had a scan of it on my computer and I printed it out. For the most part, it was accepted by people once I explained that I lost my driver's license. But I was cautioned more than once that if I hit a jackpot, the casino would only accept a real ID as proof. So if this ever happens to me again, what are my alternatives? By the way, on my last night, someone turned in my driver's license to casino security and I got it back. It would have been nicer to get it back a few days earlier, but at least I got it back.
A:
Interesting story. Thanks for sharing the experience with us. Glad to hear it had a happy ending.
We think you were smart to have a paper copy of your driver's license handy. As your case clearly illustrates, it's always wise to carry duplicate and/or backup personal documents when you travel. At least one globetrotter on the LVA staff not only carries his passport when he travels domestically (and, of course, internationally), he also takes along a good xeroxed copy of both it and his driver's license. He always carries both on his person, the originals in a pocket, the duplicates in a comfortable silk hidden money pouch.
Another idea is to carry a credit card with your photo on it. Bank of America has a program called "Photo Security." To add a photo to a new or existing credit card, all you do is stop by a participating Bank of America banking center. There, your photo is taken for free and put onto a new credit card, which you get in the mail in a couple of weeks. The photo can help to protect you from fraud if your credit card is lost, stolen, or used without your permission. And you might be able to use it as an additional form of identification.
Costco puts your mug on its membership card. So does Sam's Club. So do some amusement parks where can buy season memberships. Perhaps you have a photo ID from the military, your employer, or your school. Perhaps you've got a recently published photo of yourself from some periodical. (An author of our acquaintance lost the invitation to the private book-launch party for his own book. To prove he was who he said he was, he showed the bouncer the book itself, with his author's photo on the bio page.)
Then there's the whole issue of fake IDs. Google "fake ID" and you'll get 603,000 listings. We won't get into the legal and moral ramifications of it, but for backup ID with your own name and your own photo, it would be hard to imagine that you couldn't check into a hotel or get a comp from a slot club booth, especially if you have other forms of non-photo ID.
The main thing, as always, is to safeguard your photo IDs as well as possible, paying close attention to their whereabouts at all times. Of course, accidents do happen, so if anyone has any other ideas, feel free to send them in. We'll run them as updates to this answer.
Update 21 November 2008
Additional reader experiences:
"My wife left her purse (to include photo IDs) in the cab from the airport to our hotel (never to be seen again). We went to the South Strip police station and filled out a police report for a lost ID (our hotel's staff suggested this). At the very least, this report was good enough to get her through security for our flight back home (this was about 4 years ago)."
"About 15 or 18 months back we were staying at the Luxor. We got tickets to an early evening show, and while waiting in line I decided to get the 4 or us “wait in line” drinks from the bar not too far from the show line. I went to the bar and ordered the drinks and placed my wallet on the bar while fiddling around to pay, Picked up the 4 drinks, got back in line, saw the show. Great show. Coming out, we though to play some cards, and looking for the wallet, it was gone; this after about 2 hours. It had all my ID – except my passport – several credit cards, players cards capable of drawing markers, and about $400 cash. I went back to bar and the bartender said someone found the wallet and turned it in to him, and he turned it in to security. A quick visit to security found my wallet, all IDs, cards, and near as I could tell, all the cash. Not that I would ever do that again, but I was very impressed and very lucky. I did give the bartender a decent gratuity."
More:
"In Illinois, we can get an ID card from our driver's license facility. What I will do on trips is keep the ID and a backup credit card in my backpack, and copies in my suitcase of everything. When my wife and I travel together, we carry each other's extra ID. It takes a few minutes of work ahead of time, but we find the peace-of-mind well worth it -- especially after the one time my wife's drivers license expired during our trip and we had to beg and plead to get through airport security!"
From a reader:
"This is an update to today's QOD reference photo IDs. I lost my travelers checks, not in Vegas, but in my home after I returned from Vegas. I called to report them lost for replacement and was told I needed all the numbers, not just the 1st number in the packet, which I had photocopied. Since that time, when we go to Vegas, I scan all checks and save as a file on my computer. Since we always take our laptop, I now have a record of all of the checks and save it in a folder in my email. When we get home, I delete the ones used."
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