LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — For the first time in more than two decades, friends and family members who aren’t flying can once again accompany loved ones beyond airport security.
The Gateside by TSA PreCheck program is currently being tested at 13 airports across the country, including at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. The program allows eligible non-travelers to receive a free, one-day pass to enter the secure area of an airport and meet a departing or arriving passenger at their gate.
Daniel Bubb, a professor at the UNLV Honors College and former airline pilot, remembers when airport security rules were less restrictive, and friends and family could accompany travelers to the gate.
“I actually remember the days in air travel where friends and family members could go with the people who were traveling past security and go have a meal together, go have a drink, sit and visit before they go to the plane,” Bubb said.
Bubb began his aviation career as an airline ticket agent in 1994. While non-travelers could enter secure areas at the time, he said airports still had security measures in place, including X-ray screening and extensive employee training.
That changed dramatically following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“It didn’t feel like an airport, it felt like a military zone,” Bubb said, recalling the heightened security measures in the weeks following 9/11. “There were National Guard troops everywhere with bomb-sniffing dogs. The lines were very long, they went through everything, and they took considerable time to do it.”
More than two decades later, Bubb believes improvements in airport security technology have helped make it possible to provide travelers and their loved ones with more flexibility.
“Over time now that we’ve got modern technology, advanced technology, antiterrorism technology, it is softening that and honestly I like it,” he said. “It makes airports a lot more fun. It brings back those nostalgic days of when families and friends could do that.”
Under the pilot program, TSA PreCheck members with a Known Traveler Number can apply for a free, one-day Gateside pass.
The pass allows an eligible non-traveler to enter the secure side of the airport to meet someone at their gate. Those visitors must still go through the airport’s security screening process.
Bubb said visitors should expect to go through screening as much like a passenger would.
“That person is going to have to have something similar to a boarding pass where the airline is going to let them go. They are still going to have to go through security,” Bubb said.
Visitors will have to place their belongings in a screening bin and go through X-ray and other security screening before entering the secure area.
While Bubb said modern screening technology has made significant advances, he believes the biggest potential challenge may not be security itself, but the number of additional people using airport checkpoints.
“Today technology can detect so many things so much better,” Bubb said. “The resolution is a lot better, it is a lot clearer, it is also faster as well. So, in that regard, aviation has made extraordinary leaps with respect to technology.”
But adding non-travelers to already busy security checkpoints could create additional wait times.
“I think where people may get a little bit frustrated, I can understand, is it’s going to add more people to the lines and so it is going to lengthen the time,” Bubb said. “I can see that being a little bit of a challenge, so airports are going to have to figure that out.”
The Gateside program is currently available at 13 airports nationwide, including Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
The TSA says the program is expected to expand to additional airports in the coming months.
