Using NEXUS Card as ID for US Domestic Air Travel?
May 8, 2017, 11:03 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 5
Using NEXUS Card as ID for US Domestic Air Travel?
Long story short passport is currently getting renewed and of course the wife can't find her driver's license. She does have a Nexus card that includes Global Entry and TSE Pre-check. Can she use her Nexus card at the airport to fly from Seattle to El Paso? I don't see why not, but can't seem to find anything that confirms this. Searching is tough since it is more focused on border crossing not domestic travel.
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
May 8, 2017, 11:45 am
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,313
Long story short passport is currently getting renewed and of course the wife can't find her driver's license. She does have a Nexus card that includes Global Entry and TSE Pre-check. Can she use her Nexus card at the airport to fly from Seattle to El Paso? I don't see why not, but can't seem to find anything that confirms this. Searching is tough since it is more focused on border crossing not domestic travel.
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
May 8, 2017, 3:30 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: SEA, or BOS, or MUC, or other places (probably connecting). "Detroit, Michigan is in the Eastern time zone."
Programs: DL PM/1MM, AS 100K, NEXUS/GE, CLEAR, Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,201
Seconded. TSA has vastly improved their recognition of NEXUS and other TT program cards since 2012, when I had to tell the doc checker at MDW to go look at the list of accepted IDs. (In contrast, a few weeks later at ACK they recognized it immediately and even had a conversation with me about how I liked NEXUS.)
May 10, 2017, 6:50 pm
#4
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Florida
Programs: Delta SkyMiles; Hilton HHonors; NEXUS; National Emerald Club Executive
Posts: 365
I have never had a problem using my NEXUS card as ID for domestic flights in the US. (I got it in 2015, so it sounds like airlines and TSA reps had been adequately trained on it by then.)
The only places that have questioned its validity as ID have been some private businesses, notably data centers that I travel to for work.
The only places that have questioned its validity as ID have been some private businesses, notably data centers that I travel to for work.
May 10, 2017, 8:51 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2013
Programs: NEXUS/GE
Posts: 521
I've used my NEXUS card at airports large and small, and have had no trouble. Make sure she has her NEXUS number entered on her reservation to get Precheck.
If the document screener gives her a hard time, show them this: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-...identification It is the TSA's list of acceptable identification, of which NEXUS is included.
If the document screener gives her a hard time, show them this: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-...identification It is the TSA's list of acceptable identification, of which NEXUS is included.
May 16, 2017, 10:46 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AA Plat, Nexus
Posts: 358
The only issue I've had with using Nexus for ID turned out to be a non-issue.
I needed an escort gate pass when my kid was flying but I wasn't.
The Southwest agent claimed the TSA screener would not accept it for an escort pass, only for an actual boarding pass.
The TSA screener accepted it without question.
This was probably about a year ago.
I needed an escort gate pass when my kid was flying but I wasn't.
The Southwest agent claimed the TSA screener would not accept it for an escort pass, only for an actual boarding pass.
The TSA screener accepted it without question.
This was probably about a year ago.
May 17, 2017, 5:07 am
#7
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,863
The best denial I got a few years ago when presenting my card was a TSA ID checker telling me they didn't accept ID cards issued by a "foreign country". 
I stopped trying to use it for awhile but started up again here a year ago and no issues since then.
I stopped trying to use it for awhile but started up again here a year ago and no issues since then.
May 21, 2017, 2:56 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: BA Gold (OWE), Star Alliance Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,194
I'm guessing that TSA agent also thinks Canada isn't a foreign country then either given Canadian DLs are fine for ID as well.
May 21, 2017, 10:14 pm
#9
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,617
May 21, 2017, 10:42 pm
#10
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: BA Gold (OWE), Star Alliance Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,194
A Canadian provincial driver's license is a valid identification for TSA security checkpoints.
May 22, 2017, 8:21 am
#11
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,863
I guess the problem a few years ago was that some, maybe many, TSA officers either weren't trained or hadn't paid attention to what US issued IDs were acceptable. He acted like it was the first one he'd ever seen. Interestingly I'd been warned by a CBP officer that while they were working with TSA on the issue this might happen. Goes to the point made on this forum many times that some TSA personnel aren't maybe the sharpest. It didn't help that the NEXUS and Global Entry cards were, and still are, fairly plain and don't clearly identify the issuing agency or government.
May 22, 2017, 6:17 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Florida
Programs: Delta SkyMiles; Hilton HHonors; NEXUS; National Emerald Club Executive
Posts: 365
I guess the problem a few years ago was that some, maybe many, TSA officers either weren't trained or hadn't paid attention to what US issued IDs were acceptable. He acted like it was the first one he'd ever seen. Interestingly I'd been warned by a CBP officer that while they were working with TSA on the issue this might happen. Goes to the point made on this forum many times that some TSA personnel aren't maybe the sharpest. It didn't help that the NEXUS and Global Entry cards were, and still are, fairly plain and don't clearly identify the issuing agency or government.