Airport security checkpoints have been the end of the line since soon after the 9/11 attacks for most friends and relatives who want to see off departing passengers. That is changing at some U.S. airports.
The Transportation Security Administration is allowing eligible TSA PreCheck members without tickets to pass through security and enter gate areas, reviving a tradition that largely disappeared after the attacks 25 years ago this week.
The program, called Gateside by TSA PreCheck" is free, but interested members must apply online one to three days before their planned visits and receive approval before going to the airport. If approved, they can enter security using a TSA PreCheck lane with an acceptable form of identification. The passes are valid for one calendar day, but reentries are allowed on that day.
I remember dropping off a girlfriend at the airport back in the 90s. The security desk asked me to leave my pocket knife at the security station before preceding to the gate. When I came back, the security guy was gone but there was a plastic box full of knifes and stuff to be retrieved on the honor system.
Sweet! Free knife box!
It will help when people ship their kids off to grandma’s, helping eldery out, or whatever. Parents can be there and see the kid onto the plane rather than depending on airline employees to do all the handling.
That said, gates and airports are crowded AF. I don’t like this idea very much other than very limitied circumstances.
I’d have no problem with it if it were free of charge and the lines moved. But it’s not, and they don’t
I flew a couple times prior to 9/2001. I did not enjoy the random solicitors bothering me as I waited for a flight. I enjoy knowing everyone in the terminal is there for flying business and not pan handling or evangelism or some other ulterior motive that cuts into my interverted leave me alone so I can focus on my trip vibe.
You can just tell those people to fuck off, same as in any other public space.
I’m pathologically polite and non-confrontational and the anxiety of interacting is less intense than the anxiety of feeling like an asshole. I’m not great at enforcing my boundaries, so I appreciate it when societal policy sets them for me.
I used to be the same, but spending enough time in large cities helped me build the defenses I needed in order to tell those in need of off-fucking to do just that.
Sad how socially-enriched urban environments seem to best bring out my antisociality.
This assholes started it. You get to end it.
We were able to assist our ex who was blind even without a ticket because they didn’t have any available guides for him back in 2022
I have TSA Pre, and I could see using this if, say, my kid was travelling solo (which is increasingly likely).
This is technically not new, several airports already have their own version that doesn’t require tsa pre or a 3 day advance notice.
AFAIK DTW was the first, and they now allow you to print an access pass right at the terminal entrance so you can go through security as a non passenger.
Also to the comments complaining about long lines and traffic, that just means your airport sucks lol. ATL and ORD have some of the most horrendous pedestrian design and understaffed sections in the world. They aren’t 3 hour line busy because of the sheer volume, they just already sucked total garbage at handling that volume.
Git gud
Don’t they just check ID at the security line? Are they running that ID through a database of some sort to make sure you’re flying?
