TSA reminds travelers: Your Costco card isn’t a valid Real ID

About a month has passed since the Real ID rules at airports have gone into effect, and some travelers are still confused about the new regulations. Rumors have been swirling among airline passengers about what type of identifications are actually accepted under the new regulations.

Now, the TSA is clarifying that one type of identification — a Costco membership card — is in fact not a valid form of Real ID accepted at the airport security checkpoint.

“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 agency said in a recent post on X.

Although membership cards for the bulk-supply grocery store chain are technically photo IDs, the cards are not a federally issued identification or a state-issued enhanced driver’s license, and so they do not meet the Real ID standard.

“Can’t fly on hotdogs and hope,” the TSA posted on its Instagram account. “Your Costco Gold Star Membership card might score you a 48-pack of TP,” the post continued, “but it won’t get you through a TSA checkpoint.”

The theory of presenting a Costco card to get past the TSA checkpoint might have originated with how the agency is trying to help passengers without a valid Real ID try to confirm their identity another way. The agency has previously advised travelers without a proper Real ID to still come to the airport with some form of identification showing their name and address, such as a regular old driver’s license.

Using these IDs and other methods, the TSA can help process a traveler without a Real ID, though fliers shouldn’t rely on this option as a guarantee.

The Costco confusion has likely only affected a small number of air travelers, as 93% of fliers who show up at the airport have a valid Real ID, the TSA said in late May. The new Real ID rules went into effect on May 7, and enforcement has so far been running smoothly.

A driver’s license is Real ID-compliant if there’s a star in one of the upper corners. Not to be confused with a Gold Star Costco Membership card, which “won’t work, no matter how elite your snack haul is,” the TSA said.

Besides a Real ID-compliant driver’s license, travelers can use 17 other types of IDs at the security checkpoint. These include common travel documents, such as a passport, passport card, and a Global Entry card. See the full list of acceptable IDs on the TSA’s site.