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.
From a security perspective, if two people and the luggage clear screening, and one ticketed person proceeds to fly with the luggage, then it doesn’t matter which one of them it was, right? I’m sure it’s against the rules and the airlines might care. But just gaming the scenario out, I don’t see how a pre-screened gate visitor changes the security posture as long as one of them boards the plane with the luggage.
I think that’s more about making sure they know who is flying…it’s more about accountability than it is managing who is travelling. So much of our airport security is performative, it doesn’t actually matter… They don’t care that Bob blew the plane up, they care that they can put a picture on TV saying “This is who did it”