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.
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