For generations, the airport security checkpoint has been the place where goodbyes ended and nontraveling friends and family had to turn back. At a growing number of U.S. airports, that boundary is beginning to shift.
The Transportation Security Administration has introduced a new program that allows eligible TSA PreCheck members without airline tickets to clear security and visit airport gates at select U.S. airports. The move brings back a familiar part of flying that largely vanished after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks nearly 25 years ago.
“As an exclusive benefit for our most trusted travelers, this new program makes it easier to return to the gate for welcomes and send-offs, meet friends during a layover, and enjoy dining and shopping along the way, bringing back the moments that once defined air travel,” TSA said on its website.
Before 9/11, people who were not flying were generally allowed to walk passengers to their gates. The attacks led to major airport security changes nationwide, including tighter limits on who could enter secure areas of terminals.
The new initiative, known as “Gateside by TSA PreCheck,” is free to use, but visitors must apply online one to three days before the day they plan to go to the airport and must be approved in advance. Those who receive approval can use a TSA PreCheck lane with an acceptable form of identification. Each pass is good for one calendar day, and approved visitors may leave and re-enter during that same day.
According to the TSA, travelers enrolled in other trusted-traveler programs may also apply if they have a Known Traveler Number.
For now, Gateside by TSA PreCheck is available at 13 airports, including Los Angeles International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City International Airport, the agency said. TSA also says it expects to roll out the program to additional airports in the months ahead.
Some airports have already experimented with similar gate access programs. Pittsburgh International Airport introduced myPITpass in 2017, though that program was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and stayed suspended while construction continued at the airport.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport began a similar program a year later, allowing gate access for up to 300 people without tickets a day. Other airports that have their own versions of the program include Philadelphia International Airport and Kansas City International Airport.
