Your Costco Membership Card? No, It Is Not a Alternative for Actual ID.

The membership card that will get you a $1.50 sizzling canine combo meal is not going to, actually, get you previous Transportation Safety Administration brokers.

That’s what airport safety officers are reminding vacationers as some overlook the main points for Real ID, which require passengers navigating via airport safety checkpoints to current a federally compliant, security-enhanced, star- or flag-emblazoned type of identification.

And that massive gold star on Costco playing cards doesn’t depend.

“Can’t fly on sizzling canines and hope,” the T.S.A. posted throughout its social media accounts on Wednesday. “Your Costco Gold Star Membership card may rating you a 48-pack of TP, magical rotisserie hen and a sizzling canine and soda that defies inflation, but it surely gained’t get you thru a TSA checkpoint.”

Whereas the T.S.A. is thought to have a sense of humor online (the company’s Instagram deal with is @tsa, however the identify is Journey Ideas & Dad Joke Hits 🎶), the put up was meant as a real reminder to those that assume the membership card might be a real substitute for a government-issued identification.

Each few months, a Reddit thread factors vacationers to this tip: If you find yourself on the airport with no correct ID, attempt your Costco card as a substitute.

“That’s the realest ID,” someone commented. “It’s bought the gold star they wish to see,” another said.

Some posts make it sound straightforward: Get via safety with the identical card that will get you bulk-size offers.

On Might 25, the meals website Chowhound picked up a thread that ran that recommendation below the promising headline “How Your Costco Card Can Save You on the Airport.”

On June 3, the article was up to date to incorporate a disclosure: The T.S.A. doesn’t explicitly state {that a} Costco card can be utilized as a type of identification. With new Actual ID necessities, utilizing your membership card by itself shouldn’t be going to get you thru safety.

There is no such thing as a Kirkland particular on the airport.

Nevertheless, as a result of Costco membership playing cards embrace your picture and identify, it could assist T.S.A. brokers confirm your identity in case you have no different type of identification. Nonetheless, it’s not a substitute for a government-issued type of identification.

T.S.A. brokers would most probably need to take extra measures to verify your id, and you possibly can be pulled apart for extra screening.

If you’re about to journey and also you don’t have a Actual ID, you will get via airport safety with a state-issued enhanced driver’s license, a everlasting resident card (often known as a inexperienced card), a sound passport, a passport card or identification for trusted traveler applications like Global Entry and NEXUS.

However don’t depart your Costco card at house. The massive-box retailer has a whole bunch of areas all over the world, and so they all take the identical membership card.