I've had so many people ask me how I do this that I figured I'd be best off writing it in a post. Now when people ask about this I can just send a hyper link to this post! :-)

Ok, just to sooth my concerns, the first thing I'm going to tell you is that I have only flown from the Austin Texas airport dressed. I emphasize this because Austin is a very liberal, "live and let live" kind of place. Austin has sort of a reputation for being a place of the arts, and for having unique individuals as it's citizens. In other words, it is possible that the folks in Austin might wink and nod when others may not, so you try this at your local airport at your own risk. I honestly don't think this is the case though. I would assume that the TSA has guidelines and a policy regarding this, and I doubt very much that the folks in Austin are given any room for discretion.

The first few times I did this, I had an emergency escape plan. In my car I carried a container of water, some soap, a wash rag, and a complete change of clothes. I then showed up at the airport about three hours early so that if the airline or the TSA wouldn't let me through, all I had to do was run to the car, wash, and change. In this way, the only chance I was taking was that I might get embarrassed and have to change in my car in the parking lot.

I do not have any sort of Femme ID, nor did I need one.

I did not lie or mislead anyone in any part of the process.

I also did not go out of my way to explain my TG status either.

I booked my flights in the usual fashion, under my male name, using my male credit card, and my male ID. When I checked in, I used the Kiosk just like anyone else. When they asked for my ID when checking my baggage, I showed them my male drivers license. When going through the TSA security, I showed my male ID when asked for it. I don't bother to explain that I'm TG as I hand the ID over. It's fairly obvious at that point and I would just seem a bit silly to try and explain it if not asked.

I have now flown around a dozen times, and in all of those occasions, I've had:

  • 1 TSA agent clearly look down his nose as he passed me through. It was clear he didn't like me.
  • 1 TSA agent that dealt with me on several trips flirt with me
  • 2 TSA agents (on different trips) tease me with a smile on their faces.
  • 1 Delta gate agent smile and tell me that she sees me so often she should have my name memorized.

It really couldn't be simpler!

The reasons I don't fly from other cities dressed is because there is no way for me to have an escape plan if things don't go well. Since it is not my home airport, I wont have a car in the lot to leave cleaning supplies and a change of clothes in. If another airport refuses to let me fly, I WILL miss the flight, and that since it would be my fault, there would probably be costs associated with it. The other reason is that I think it might be a bad idea to be arriving home dressed in the middle of the afternoon. Too much chance the neighbors would see me!

So there you have it! No secrets, no tricks, no hoops to jump through! You do everything just as you would when you fly any time, the only difference is you are dressed a bit better! lol

By the way, if any of you have first or second hand experience flying from another airport in the US, please let me know! I want to hear from you if you, or a friend of yours has done it - please don't send me a message about a friend of a friend as I would not consider that to be reliable information