WASHINGTON (CNN) — It’s a safe bet that every time you fly, you show a photo ID to an official at the airport checkpoint.

A TSA officer checks a passenger’s ID at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Every time Nick Kloiber flies, he doesn’t.

Kloiber, 23, a University of Kentucky Law School student and privacy advocate, knows something that you probably don’t — contrary to popular belief, and contrary to some airport signs, travelers are not required to present identification at airport checkpoints.

Under current Transportation Security Administration policy, passengers can refuse to show identification and can still fly — as long as they agree to secondary screening, meaning a search of their carry-on bags and a pat down.

But all that is about to change.

Beginning Saturday, June 21, travelers like Kloiber who “willfully refuse” to show IDs won’t be allowed through checkpoints or onto planes. Only passengers who show IDs, and “cooperative” passengers, who explain why their IDs are missing and help police confirm their identities, will get through. Watch a report on the policy change »

The TSA says it is changing the policy “to facilitate travel for legitimate passengers” while helping its security work force focus on “people, not things.”

Flying without an ID is coming to a controversial end - CNN.com