Heavens forbid that a TSO in a southern airport be properly trained on what acceptable ID is. :rolleyes:

Its the first thing. Not to mention the fact that it is identical to SENTRI and FAST cards, making training even easier.

Incidentally, the whole "primarily used for" argument is getting old. The primary use of a Passport is to allow transit between and entry to countries. The primary use of a driver license is to indicate that a person is licensed to drive in the jurisdiction of issue. Neither was invented for the TSA to use as ID, and neither is actually issued by the DHS.

That's the funny thing - NEXUS, FAST, SENTRI and TWIC are all actually issued by DHS. They should be the first thing they train on, not the last.

This is TSA. What are you smoking?! :rolleyes:

I'm really surprised they can't learn that these cards are accepted. Just goes to show you what our tax dollars are paying for :td:

It's in their own SOP.

How difficult can it be for these lazy clowns to get up off their brains and go look it up?

I don't care if the TSO is in Seattle or Hot Coffee, Mississippi. If they don't know their own procedures and rules and SOP, you and I are being ripped off having our tax dollars go to pay the salary of that lackadaisical individual.

God Forbid a TS Clerk in a southern airport remembers his training.

Some of you people are ridiculous. I'm not here to defend the TSA but are you telling me that none of you have ever made a mistake at work?

Like I said, the OP was in TX and LA using an ID for which the intended purpose is to expedite entry into and from Canada. I'm sure this problem doesn't happen in BUF, MSP or ORD. I bet if you were to use a FAST Pass at PHX, SAN or SAT there wouldn't be a problem and may get strange looks in SEA or BOS.

John Pistole said that he would make sure the clerks knew what a NEXUS & TWIC card was, and that they were acceptable ID.

I do not feel sorry for these clerks. This is in their SOP and training, and it's not my fault that they can't remember something so simple.

Sorry, but you are wrong. It is a problem everywhere. North, south, east west, huge international airport or single runway regional, it is a random shot whether they will take my Nexus. MSP was one of the worst. CID took it without blinking.

I have lost track of the airports that gave me problems. My home airport, where I use it every week, still does not accept it without escalation 1/2 of the time.

I hand the Nexus, with my BP. If they turn it over, I know I have a problem. They use the light of amazing properties. They then ask if I have another form of ID. I have my speech memorized. As I hand them a printout of their own web site, with a business card printed with the url's, I say " The nexus is an acceptable form of identification according to your SOP. Please call a supervisor. I will stand to the side out of the way and wait. I have plenty of time." They look in the bartenders manual of ID's and I tell them it is not in there. They treat my paperwork like it is contaminated with a toxin. I stand my ground.

I have always, finally, been able to get it approved. It has taken as long a twenty minutes and involvement of as many a nine different people, some on the phone, some on the computer, but it is always been accepted, finally.

It is an interesting dynamic. Since I have not yet entered the screening area, I am not considered obstructing a process that has not been started. I am not subject to the alleged $11,000 fine. If I presented an invalid ID, it would be a problem, but they can neither prove it to be valid or invalid without using my paperwork and they can not do that, that would not be right. It is my quest to train as many of these folks as possible. In a devious way, it is fun.

And heaven forbid that we actually expect that TSOs perform their jobs as required by their own procedures. TSOs yell at passengers all the time for not "knowing the rules"; what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, too.

And when I make a mistake in my job, which is in the public eye, I often get publicly corrected. So be it. I take the correction graciously, admit my mistake, apologize to the person affected by my mistake, and move forward. And that sort of attitude usually elicits a gracious response from the person affected by my mistake, and we all live happily ever after.

Regrettably, the responses of TDCs who encounter an unfamiliar ID card seem to be more characterized by conflict and aggression rather than graciousness. Is it surprising that passenger reactions mirror that reaction?

Well, my incident happened at JFK, not exactly a southern outpost!

The simple truth is TSA employees are poorly trained to recognize anything other than a passport or DL. There was also a thread re: passport card not being accepted, the PC being another legitimate government identification.

If the government says it is acceptable, why is this information not being passed down or accepted by those checking ID? Is it so difficult to have a piece of paper at each station indicating acceptable forms of ID? I do not see this as a mistake, as much as ignorance by TSA officials!

Third on the list.

After passport and passport card. DL are 7th and 8th.

This is the printout they will not accept or they accuse me of making up.

There is a link on that page to this, also printed out and handed to the TDC.

Top center. No. Excuse. Ever.

Again, a driver license is intended for the purpose of verifying that a person is allowed to drive in that jurisdiction (and granted full faith and credit in the other 50 states and all provinces and territories in Canada). A passport is intended for the purpose of gaining passage between countries. Indeed, the NEXUS/SENTRI/FAST cards (which are identical) are (along with TWIC) put out by the same department to which the TSA belongs. Passports and state/provincial driver licenses are not. Not only that, but they meat enhanced REAL ID and WHTI standards, which the vast majority of state/provincial driver licenses and a large number of older passports do not.

As for recognizing them in PHX/SAN/SAT, try again. I had someone not recognize my NEXUS card at SAN, despite the fact that it is identical to a SENTRI card. Now, this TS Clerk did the right thing and quietly asked the 2 striper next to her and it wasn't an issue at all.

You want to know where I have gotten the least guff? OXR, a tiny airport that had nothing but 30 seaters when it still had service. I'm likely the only person who ever passed through with a NEXUS card. Where did I get the most? LAX, which is the largest O&D airport in the world which means the most TDC'ing going on anywhere. If they don't know, who will?

The one thing about the DHS Trusted Traveler cards is that they do stamp one of the holograms over about half the photo. The black light actually does make the photo perfectly clear, so that's not the issue. I do agree that turning it over usually ends up with escalation, though the TDC at OXR would always turn it over and never gave me a problem. It makes sense to turn it over to see the MRZ, which can tell you it isn't faked.

Only 20 minutes? I've had it take 2 hours and it has caused me to miss 2 flights.

Not to mention that you aren't obstructing anything simply by producing acceptable, enhanced REAL ID compliant ID. The only one who is being uncooperative is the TDC.

^

That seems to be the main problem. Whomever issues these bartenders manual assume that's the holy grail that lists every ID out there and fails to consider other DHS trusted traveler cards. :td:

This is why things could me made much simpler by you know, taping the darn pdf printout onto the desk? Is it really that hard to do?

I sure have.

But, the automatic gainsaying of "we don't accept that ID" when you don't know is not a mistake. It is hubris.

The TSA's own website lists over a dozen acceptable IDs. If a TSO doesn't know what a NEXUS card is (#3 on the list, btw), then he or she hasn't bothered to keep themselves informed. They are lazy.

Almost every ID listed on the page above is for an intended purpose other than clearing airport security. I don't remember getting my Driver's License, Passport, or Passport Card for the purpose of satisfying TSA requirements.

For all of your concern about us being ridiculous, how much more ridiculous is it that someone who is earning their living from our taxpayer dollars won't take the time to educate themselves by simply walking over to the SOP and verifying if a particular ID is acceptable or not?

Two guesses:

Is is not in the SOP to tape it to the desk, or tape it inside the front page of the bartender's manual, or it might be SSI and con not be display publicly.

Oh. there is a third, it makes sense.