Consider this travel insurance option if you fly without a Real ID

The deadline to have a Real ID compliant document to show TSA screeners for domestic air travel is less than two weeks away and options for travelers with an upcoming flight are getting slim.

Can people who bought tickets for travel on or soon after the May 7 deadline, count on traveler’s insurance to help if they lack a Real ID license or an accepted alternative?

The answer is, sort of.

Standard travel insurance won’t help if a traveler has to cancel due to lack of a Real ID document, but a specific optional insurance benefit will.

“In most cases, travel insurance does not cover trip cancellations due to the traveler not updating required travel documentation, including not having a Real ID,” said Keaveny Hewitt, a U.S. Travelers Insurance Association spokesperson. “The exception would be if the traveler had purchased a Cancel For Any Reason upgrade, which allows for broader flexibility.”

Travelers should review travel insurance policy details and ask their provider questions about coverage specifics, she said.

Cancel for any Reason also has limitations. It allows travelers to cancel a flight for other reasons than the covered reasons provided for on standard travel insurance policies.

It can’t be purchased on its own, but is an optional benefit that may be added onto an eligible comprehensive policy, according to Insuremytrip.com.

Cancel for any Reason won’t cover a traveler who shows up at the airport and is turned away for lacking a Real ID document.

“In order to use CFAR – you must cancel your trip at least 48 hours prior to departure, so canceling it right before a flight would not be an option,” said Meghan Kayata, a Insuremytip.com spokesperson.

“If a traveler does cancel 48 hours prior, the reimbursement would be 50% to 75% of the total, prepaid, non-refundable trip costs,” she said.

The deadline to add that coverage before May 7 is also close. A policy must be purchased within 10-21 days of making the initial trip payment to be eligible for Cancel for any Reason benefits, according to Insuremytrip.com.

That benefit could be important for travelers as thousands of state Motor Vehicle Commission Real ID appointments are being snapped up hours after they are posted.

The MVC posts new appointments on its website at 3 a.m., on weekdays. By 4:25 a.m. Friday, there were 6,815 appointments open statewide. By 6:45 a.m., 1,500 were taken, and by mid-morning all appointments were gone.

Not all those appointments are for dates before May 7, some were for dates into July.

Travelers who have Bonafide emergencies and need an expedited Real ID can apply for the MVC’s new emergency program that started Thursday.

The Real ID emergency program is for qualified customers who need to board a domestic flight in 14 days for urgent or life-or-death reasons they can prove, and who do not have another acceptable form of identification to show TSA screeners.

Drivers can start the process through the MVC Real ID Emergency Issuance Request Portal.

Optional forms of ID that the TSA will accept includes valid U.S. or foreign passports, and Global Entry-Trusted Traveler cards.

Other accepted identification cards for domestic air travel in lieu of Real ID are more specialized.

They include U.S. Department of Defense ID, including IDs issued to dependents, Veteran Health Identification Cards, permanent resident border crossing cards, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Authorization Cards.

Canadian provincial driver’s licenses or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada cards, U.S. Merchant Mariner Credentials, transportation worker identification credentials, and photo ID cards issued by a federally- recognized Tribal Nation/Indian Tribe are also accepted in lieu of a Real ID license, according to the TSA.