For most Americans, meeting someone at the airport gate feels like a distant memory of a world before the Sept. 11 attacks. But that ritual could be making a comeback, if you have T.S.A. PreCheck.
The Transportation Security Administration is making it easier for members of PreCheck and other trusted traveler programs like Global Entry to go beyond security at more than a dozen airports, even when they aren’t flying.
Under the new program, called Gateside, PreCheck members can apply one to three days in advance to pass through security at 13 U.S. airports, whether it’s to meet a friend, see off a family member or even to meet someone for dinner during a layover. There is no extra charge for Gateside, though PreCheck costs about $80 for five years.
A T.S.A. spokesperson said that the program began last week at airports including Dallas Fort Worth International, Los Angeles International and Harry Reid International, in Las Vegas.
The ability to visit an airport without a ticket didn’t entirely go away in the years after 9/11. More than a dozen airports in the United States, including Kansas City International, Philadelphia International, Orlando International and San Francisco International, have their own free programs — not run by the T.S.A. — that already let nonflying visitors apply to go beyond security checkpoints. These programs also don’t limit applicants to Department of Homeland Security-designated trusted travelers. Instead, applications generally require only a state-issued Real ID or a passport.
Visitors using Gateside should submit applications at least a day before their planned visit and no more than three days in advance, according to the T.S.A. website. The passes are valid for one calendar day, and allow re-entry. At the airport, approved visitors can use the PreCheck lanes to enter the secure area.
Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former T.S.A. officer who writes a travel newsletter called Gate Access, said that limiting Gateside to the PreCheck population added a necessary layer of security.
“The agency has already vetted these individuals,” he added. “The threat level is much lower than that of a regular civilian.”
The new program signals that the T.S.A. is weighing how to make PreCheck more enticing as security screening for all passengers gets faster, said Keith Jeffries, a vice president of K2 Security Screening Group and a former T.S.A. federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport. Mr. Jeffries called Gateside a “smart rebrand” of an existing concept that many travelers might be unaware of.
Mr. Harmon-Marshall called the Gateside program an “odd perk” for PreCheck members.
“T.S.A. PreCheck is still great to have,” he said, “but it has lost some value because the agency now lets standard travelers keep shoes on and large electronics in their bags in certain lanes.”
The T.S.A. said it planned to expand the program “in a phased approach.”
The participating airports are:
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Mesa Gateway Airport, in Mesa, Ariz.
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John Glenn Columbus International Airport, in Ohio
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Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
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Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
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Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, in Kansas
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Indianapolis International Airport
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Harry Reid International Airport, in Las Vegas
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Los Angeles International Airport
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Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, in Little Rock, Ark.
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Will Rogers International Airport, in Oklahoma City
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Eppley Airfield, in Omaha, Neb.
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San Diego International Airport
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Salt Lake City International Airport
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