Real ID enforcement began on May 7, almost a month ago now. Airports haven’t seen any chaos as many predicted, largely due to the “We’ll let you in this time, but make sure to have a compliant ID next time” thing with the red slip. Simply put, you only get a warning for not having a Real ID.
That said, one area of confusion I’ve seen online is the validity of Global Entry cards and other Trusted Traveler cards.
Both of these cases were about a month ago when the Real ID enforcement was first beginning. I’ve seen a few other similar cases elsewhere.
Global Entry cards are 100% an acceptable form of ID when going through TSA. It’s literally on TSA’s website as Trusted Traveler Cards, which also include NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST.
Ironically, Trusted Traveler cards are issued by the DHS, the same agency that the TSA is under. If there were a level to how much “federal” an ID is, Global Entry cards would be among the top. Hearing situations of them getting denied makes me roll my eyes.
In such a case that a TSO doesn’t accept your Global Entry card, I’d just go ask for a supervisor and have them sort it out.
In most cases though, you won’t have any trouble using it to go through TSA. It’s important to remember that although we’re hearing about these cards getting denied, thousands of passengers are able to use them every day without issue. I don’t think many people would go post on Reddit or FlyerTalk just because a TSO accepted their form of ID.
If anybody wants any reassurance, I used mine through TSA at JFK last week. I had no issues at all.
All photos taken by the author.
