Flights: Say goodbye to ID cards for travel in Italy and Europe.

Easier and faster boarding for domestic flights and those to almost all EU countries, including those in the Schengen area.

You no longer have to show your ID to the flight attendant , something we've had to do for decades. A new regulation from ENAC, approved by the Ministry of the Interior, establishes that a boarding pass alone will be sufficient for travel .

Until now, the regulation required a double check: before baggage scanning, only the boarding pass was requested; at the gate, just before boarding the plane, the identity card was also required, with inspectors checking that the document matched the boarding pass and verifying the traveler's identity using the photo printed on the document.

ENAC's new regulation affects all domestic travel and travel from Italy to Schengen area countries. This includes almost all EU countries, excluding Cyprus and Ireland, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The United Kingdom is not included .

"Airports are protected places, and the time has come to treat air travel as equal to train travel," Pierluigi Di Palma, president of ENAC, told Corriere della Sera . "Nothing changes for security purposes: anyone arriving at the gate will have to go through metal detectors. Of course, you may be stopped and checked by law enforcement, and you will be required to show an ID." The risk of someone boarding a flight using someone else's boarding pass? "All the security filters, visible and invisible, that exist at airports come into play here. And I can assure you that those who violate the rules face extremely severe penalties."

It's unclear exactly when this provision will go into effect, but it's a good idea to always carry your ID card. This is both for potential checks by law enforcement and because this procedure will apply (for now) only in Italy. Therefore, upon returning from a trip abroad, you'll be asked for your ID at the gate.

(Unioneonline)