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Flying recently became more complicated than it already was thanks to a new law that requires Americans to possess a Real ID if they want to get through security. It’s hard to imagine there are any people who believed a Costco card would be viewed as a suitable alternative, but the TSA nonetheless went out of its way to confirm that’s not the case.
It’s been 20 years since Congress passed the Real ID Act of 2005, which was just one of the many pieces of legislation drafted in the wake of 9/11 in an effort to beef up national security.
That law revolved around an effort to establish a universal standard for the driver’s licenses that are individually issued in all 50 states. It was inextricably linked with the operations of the TSA, the agency that didn’t exist before the start of the War on Terror but which the vast majority of Americans have since become all too well acquainted with.
The deadline for the introduction of the Real ID was initially set for May 11, 2008, but it was delayed to a laughable degree before the TSA confirmed flyers would need one as of May 7, 2025—nearly 17 years after the rollout was initially scheduled.
It’s still possible to get through security without a Real ID, but anyone who arrives at an airport without one in their possession will likely be subjected to additional screening if they don’t have the gold star that signifies it’s compliant with the new regulations on their license.
Millions of Americans walk around with another piece of plastic with a gold star on it in the form of a Costco membership card, but earlier this week, the TSA made the seemingly unnecessary decision to let the world know that it cannot, in fact, be used in place of a Real ID.
The post in question seems like a joke at first glance, but it appears it can be traced back to another one that appeared on the Costco subreddit in April that subsequently spawned a Chowhound article concerning some commenters who asserted the TSA had previously used the photo and information on their Costco card to help confirm their identity.
I’m not really sure how (or if) that led to people jumping to the conclusion that a Costco card can be used in place of a Real ID, but as someone who’s spent more than a decade working on the internet and learning how impressively clueless and gullible some people can be, I can’t necessarily blame the TSA for erring on the side of caution.
Content shared from brobible.com.