Federal agency issues public reminder in response to REAL ID confusion

The Transportation Security Administration clarified this week that a Costco membership card is not sufficient to present at airport security. 

“We love hotdogs & rotisserie chickens as much as the next person but please stop telling people their Costco card counts as a REAL ID because it absolutely does not,” the TSA wrote on Facebook Wednesday. 

The reminder comes less than a month after the U.S. began requiring a REAL ID driver’s license when flying domestically May 7. 

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Aside from REAL IDs, which have enhanced federal standards, domestic flyers can also use their passports or another federally-approved form of identification like Defense Department-issued IDs (but not a Costco card). 

“Department of Defense IDs for active and retired military continue to be an acceptable form of ID at TSA checkpoints following the implementation of REAL ID last month,” the TSA wrote on Facebook Thursday. 

REAL IDs were available for years before the requirement went into effect after a 2005 law passed based on recommendations from the 9/11 Commission report. 

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With many procrastinating until shortly before the deadline, DMV centers were inundated with long lines in April and early May, and there was confusion about what forms of identification, such as a passport, birth certificate or Social Security card, were acceptable at a DMV to secure a REAL ID.