# Some GQ's regarding airport security post 9/11 esp meeting people at gates **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641 "2003-01-15T00:57:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/1 "2003-01-15T00:57:45Z")
I see so many threads every day about 9/11 and airports and security that I really don’t want to bog the site down with a [most likely futile] search right now, so I apologize if this has been done but I don’t think it has. So here are my questions: Has there been any kind of official word on if they will ever let people go to the gates again without a ticket? Is this a law or just a voluntary policy adopted by airports? Why do they do this? Terrorists quite obviously have no problems buying tickets. Every single 9/11 suspect had a ticket. Why do they check IDs now? Terrorists have no problems getting fake IDs. This just seems to make lines longer. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/2 "2003-01-15T01:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > \*\*I see so many threads every day about 9/11 and airports and security that I really don’t want to bog the site down with a [most likely futile] search right now, so I apologize if this has been done but I don’t think it has. > > So here are my questions: > > Has there been any kind of official word on if they will ever let people go to the gates again without a ticket? \*\* Don’t hold your breath. How does never strike you? > [@](#): > > **Is this a law or just a voluntary policy adopted by airports?** Does it matter? By law do you mean act of Congress or regulation from either FAA or TSA? Answer is I don’t know, but it really doesn’t matter as you aren’t going to get to the gate unless you are ticketed. > [@](#): > > **Why do they do this? Terrorists quite obviously have no problems buying tickets. Every single 9/11 suspect had a ticket.** For the simple reason that if you allowed Aunt Tilly, Unckle Furd, and their 27 kids all to go out to the gate to meet you that that is 29 more people that have to be screened. Needless to say the higher the load at security, the longer the wait. Please don’t mention that Aunt Tilly doesn’t have to be screened, because she isn’t getting on the plane. If she isn’t screened, then she could pass the Uzi in her purse to the hijacker that was screened, once they have cleared security. > [@](#): > > \*\*Why do they check IDs now? Terrorists have no problems getting fake IDs. This just seems to make lines longer. > > \*\* The only additional ID check is at the gate itself. If the passengers don’t have their head up their ass, and have their ID out, it takes only a couple of seconds to do the ID check. ID has been required at check in for quite a while (before 9/11). Also with the advent of self-check in machines without the ID check at the airplane door, there would potentially be no ID check of some passengers. ID check is **not** required at security, just a check of the boarding pass. > [@](#): > > \*\*Thank you. \*\* no 'blem ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/3 "2003-01-15T02:14:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rick \* > **Don’t hold your breath. How does never strike you?** How do you know though? Do you have a cite or are you just guessing? It seems like alot of the “security measures” taken after 9/11 were, to use an overused term, kneejerk reactions and they will eventually lighten up. I’m just curious as to whether there has been an official word either way. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/4 "2003-01-15T02:34:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > **How do you know though? Do you have a cite or are you just guessing?** How long do you think growing and selling heroin to minors will be illegal? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/5 "2003-01-15T02:35:46Z")
Until the legislature allows it, which is I suppose the point being made. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/6 "2003-01-15T02:40:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zagadka \* > \*\*How long do you think growing and selling heroin to minors will be illegal? \*\* I hope you aren’t equating selling heroin to minors with our pathetic excuse for airport “security.” And if you are, did you read the part where none of the participants in this thread are even sure of the legality behind this yet? That is part of the GQ here. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/7 "2003-01-15T02:47:28Z")
I feel I should clarify my thoughts from my last post though. I don’t think current security measures in US airports are very practical. I think they’re mostly just for show and to give people a false sense of security. The only clear purpose they seem to serve is to make lines longer. That is my opinion and I shouldn’t have brought it into GQ. The GQ’s were _Are these security measures permanent?_ and _Are these security measures law?_, which **Zagadka** seems to have missed and I was a little hamfisted in clarifying in my last post. Hope that clears everything up. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/8 "2003-01-15T03:06:45Z")
The TSA has a link to the relevant laws regarding its authority at [http://www.tsa.dot.gov/public/index.jsp](http://www.tsa.dot.gov/public/index.jsp) ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/9 "2003-01-15T04:20:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rick \* > **The only additional ID check is at the gate itself. If the passengers don’t have their head up their ass, and have their ID out, it takes only a couple of seconds to do the ID check. ID has been required at check in for quite a while (before 9/11). Also with the advent of self-check in machines without the ID check at the airplane door, there would potentially be no ID check of some passengers. ID check is not required at security, just a check of the boarding pass.** I encountered just the opposite this holiday season, unless I’m misunderstanding you. In Baltimore (BWI), Houston (IAH), and Miami (MIA), ID _was_ required at security, and not at the gate. The airline was Continental. Have things changed, or is there some variance? ---
**Author:** ![censored](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/35a633/32.png) [@censored](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/censored)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/10 "2003-01-15T04:56:36Z")
Same experience as **chriszarate** last week - at LAX and Newark airports, ID was required at the ticket counter and at security, not at the gate itself. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-gqs-regarding-airport-security-post-9-11-esp-meeting-people-at-gates/148641/11 "2003-01-15T05:00:30Z")
Perhaps this is more worthy of a debate because there appears to be no straightforward, simple answer …