As much as times have changed in the last 20 years, would there ever be a reason for the TSA people to let anyone and everyone through the metal detectors?
I’m thinking back on the old days, when if I was flying somewhere, the person meeting me was always allowed through security, to come up and meet me at the gate.
In your opinion, will we ever see that return? Or is “you need a boarding pass to get past this point” going to be the standard from here on out?
Well once we all have the telepathy chips planted in our brains, or whatever they’re using on that show Persons of Interest, and they don’t need the now obsolete security technology we go through today, they’ll probably be able to loosen up the restrictions.
I’m just hoping we can go back to not paying for baggage, but I think the telepathy chips are probably more likely.
Well, once we catch all the terrorists, sure.
I remember the days of waiting for incoming passengers at the boarding gate. I don’t see a need for it to return, really. Does it matter if you meet them at the end of the jetway or a hundred yards later at the exit from the security area? Nowadays, if you’re picking someone up, it’s common to wait in your car in the cell phone lot, meet them at the arrivals road in front of the baggage claims, and you’re off in no time.
I think airport architecture will take a while to catch up. There aren’t usually any seats if you want to wait by the security exit. The cell phone lot is shoehorned in wherever they could find space for it. I think there’s room for other improvements as well, but there are so few new airports built that we’ll probably always be catching up with good ideas and making do with what we can.
There’s a sociability that I miss about being able to see someone off at the gate. I remember about 15 years ago, I had a long layover and a good friend of mine who lived an hour away showed up just to hang out for a few hours. It’s an incident that I remember fondly and I hate that there’s never any possibility of something like that happening again.
You said it better than I did in the OP. A better example is being able to “see someone off at the gate”, rather than picking them up.
I used to joke that airports should have visiting areas like prisons, with the glass partitions and telephones, so that if you know someone in that town you can sit and chat while you’re passing through.
But that’s kind of what I was getting at about redesigning airports around how they’re now used. Have some sort of social space outside the security area. Make it so you can see how long the line is so you know if you can get back through the checkpoint before your flight leaves. Have a secure place to check bags so you don’t need to re-x-ray your carry-ons. There’s lots of room for improvements.
I think part of the issue is that with the increased security, the checkpoints have become a bottleneck that would only be made worse if there were non-passengers trying to get through too. So before the old days come back they’ll have to figure out some way of speeding up the security checkpoint process, which I’m sure there are people working on now.
Granted I’ve done a LOT more flying post-9/11 than pre-9/11 so maybe I’m just used to it, but I really don’t miss the old ways. Tearful goodbyes are just as bittersweet at the front door as they were at the gate, and joyful "welcome back!"s are just as great at the baggage claim as they were at the end of the jetway. I’m not that upset that I have to walk an extra hundred yards before I see my parents after traveling thousands of miles.
Ditto, though I was the one meeting the traveler in the airport for lunch, when she was in town for a grand total of two hours. This wasn’t like seeing someone off at the front door or picking them up, she literally didn’t have enough time to leave and go anywhere. It was meet her in the airport or not at all.
Just so you know, this isn’t universal. Airport security in Australia, for example, allows anyone access to the gates after passing through a metal detector. Shoes on, no restriction of fluids. My sister meets me at the gate 
I guess Australia caught all their terrorists. Maybe they can tell the TSA how to do that?
As a passenger I’m fine with keeping nonpassengers outside the concourses. A typical gate isn’t that generous with numbers of seats even for paying passengers and I say my goodbyes when I get dropped off outside the terminal
Believe it or not, it’s not even the standard now. I was surprised to find that out, about two years ago.
I was taking a friend to the airport. He’s very..quiet, and not comfortable with many people. Hadn’t flown in almost a decade. So I did all the talking when he checked-in at the front counter. After they printed his boarding pass and took his luggage, they asked me if I wanted a gate pass so I could wait with him.
It looked just like a boarding pass, unless you read it carefully. Security didn’t treat me any differently than I’m used to when flying.
I don’t know what the rules are for getting gate passes..but it’s possible.
-D/a
When my wife and two kids go on their summer vacation (schoolteacher) to visit family, I can always get a boarding pass to waive them off at the boarding gate. Granted, the kids are young, so who knows if this would continue once she needs less “help” getting them sorted.
I live fairly near the DFW airport, which is a hub. Sometimes an online friend is flying through, and has a layover, and I’d love to see him/her…but the hassle of getting through the checkpoint is such a time consumer that it’s often not worth it. I expect that as more people have online friends that they would like to meet in person, that this will be more and more common. Perhaps the airport restaurants and bars could take note of this, and realize that they’re losing money.
Nowadays your friend couldn’t come all the way to the gate, but you should be able to leave the secure area to hang out for awhile then when it gets close to boarding time go back through the metal detectors. Depending on the airport, you’ll have to adjust your timing. At a place like O’Hare, you might need to say goodbye 45 minutes or so before boarding time as long as you’re near you’re gate but at a medium sized airport like MKE, I’d be comfortable with 15 minutes or so.
IOW, I don’t think people can get all the way to the gate, but they can get right up to the metal detectors and there’s plenty to do on the unsecure side.
Also, I don’t know about other airports but MKE has free parking for under a half hour, so a few times I’ve been able to use that to drop people off and at least get them that far without being charged if I didn’t want to just drop them at the departure area. Once I even ran to the airport on my lunch break to get a Cinnabon because it was closer then going to the mall and I hadn’t had one in years.
But for the parents or whoever is meeting you it was usually better when they were allowed onto the concourse, which generally offers more shops, restaurants and other diversions to while away the time if you get there too early. It’s also more likely to have seats.
I think the whole “meeting/seeing off” thing will eventually go by the wayside (you can say goodbye when you leave the house), at least at peak travel times. Shuttles, buses and taxis can serve air travelers going both to and from the airport. I wouldn’t be surprised if steps are taken to discourage the practice.
No.
Off the top of my head, I can’t recall a single time a new bureaucracy was established that it was ever reduced. At the very least they may shuffle responsibilities and titles, (Homeland Security) but those who have gained by the changes will seriously resist a relaxation.
The JOB LOSSES alone would be unacceptable and the security contractors now have such a lock on so many aspects of our lives it just won’t happen.
Ever.