Passengers at American airports complied in resigned exasperation with rules like having to remove shoes and limit shampoo in hand baggage — part of security measures put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Now, for the first time in almost 20 years, they’re having a different experience.
Pre-flight screening as of last month no longer requires passengers to take off their shoes and run them through X-ray machines. Up next: Officials have signaled they intend to ease the rule limiting containers of carry-on liquids to no more than 3.4 ounces, though it’s unclear whether it would apply to all passengers and airports or a select few to start.
The changes “sound small maybe in a vacuum or in a silo, but in aggregate these are things that have significant impacts to the passenger,” Adam Stahl, acting deputy administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, said in an interview Thursday, just ahead of a Labor Day weekend in which the TSA expects to screen almost 17.4 million passengers, 2% above last year’s total.
Stahl wouldn’t get into specifics about potential changes to the liquids rule, but said the agency expects an announcement in the near future, adding that it’s a “huge priority” for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Rules on pulling laptops out of carry-ons for screening is another area being looked at, he said.
In addition, the TSA last month began a pilot program to allow some international travelers catching connecting flights in the US to avoid screening during the layover — beginning with select flights from London. It’s also been expanding the use of biometrics for identity verification.
The revamp from President Donald Trump’s administration marks a sea change from a system that ingrained habits like showing up to the airport hours early, wearing easily removable shoes and checking bags to stow a favorite perfume. The inconveniences so frustrated travelers that it spawned a company, Clear Secure Inc., that allowed those willing to pay the chance to speed through security, and prompted millions of people to endure extra TSA vetting for PreCheck status that somewhat eased their burden.
If the changes are made, it could help make things smoother for an influx of visitors for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. Whether they’ll be enough to offset the effects of some new obstacles for foreign visitors, such as cautionary travel advisories from their home countries and higher tourist fees included in the president’s signature tax and spending package, remains to be seen.
“This is a pretty big, defining movement for TSA,” said Ryan Propis, an expert on travel security for the US Travel Association, an industry group.
Balancing Risks
The rules around shoes and liquids were put in place in 2006 in response to attempted terrorist attacks in the aftermath of 9/11. In December 2001, failed “shoe bomber” Richard Reid sought to ignite explosives packed in one of his sneakers on an American Airlines flight. In August 2006, terrorists plotted to detonate liquid explosives on planes traveling from the UK to the US and Canada.
Some critics have argued many of the rules following 9/11, which also included no longer allowing people to wear coats during screening and restricting access to arrival and departure terminals, were excessive and amounted to “security theater.”
Current and former government officials have pushed back against those claims.
“The threats are real, the stakes are high,” said John Pistole, who led the TSA from 2010 to 2014.
Improvements in technology since 2006 are one of the major factors that have allowed the government to revisit some of those procedures, according to Jeff Price, a professor in the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
But the government’s security apparatus must walk a tightrope between guarding the public against attacks and ensuring free-flowing travel.
“If you lock things down too much, no one flies,” Price said. “If you open the door too much, everyone attacks.”
Stahl said the TSA won’t do anything to jeopardize security. “We’re becoming a little more laser focused, a little more innovative, and embracing technology,” he said.
The shoe policy change put the US in line with other global aviation hubs including the European Union, Dubai and Singapore, which typically don’t require travelers to take off their shoes when going through airport security. Most international airports restrict liquids to containers that are 100 milliliters or 3.4 ounces, but some places in the UK have been trying out higher limits.
Liquid Options
As officials reconsider the limits on carry-on liquids, any change would likely increase the amount permitted to be brought through security, rather than totally eliminating the restriction, according to two people familiar with the government’s thinking who asked not to be identified discussing the plans.
Stahl wouldn’t comment on specifics but said the TSA is “looking at a variety of options.”
Security experts say that to safely and broadly allow for larger liquids, the US would likely need to ramp up its rollout of computed tomography machines, which can create 3D images and are better than their predecessors at detecting explosives and other threats.
Such devices are already at 285 of the 432 US commercial airports, according to the TSA, but full deployment isn’t expected until 2043. Officials are looking at ways to accelerate that, Stahl said.
Biometrics Battle
The administration has also been looking to expand the use of biometric data to verify travelers’ identities and speed up security lines — a push that’s been the subject of backlash from lawmakers and data privacy groups.
The TSA said this month that it had partnered with Clear Secure to roll out new electronic gates, or “eGates,” at checkpoints in some airports to automatically compare travelers’ biometric data with their IDs and boarding passes.
Such efforts have drawn resistance.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill this year to set more guardrails around facial recognition technology. The TSA already says the screening is voluntary, but the legislation would mandate that requirement and would also prohibit the agency from treating those who opt out poorly.
Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, postponed a planned vote on the bill last month after intense lobbying from travel groups, airlines and airport executives. But the battle is expected to continue when Congress returns from its August recess.
Biometrics and facial recognition are “arguably one of the most effective forms of identity verification,” Stahl said. But the TSA understands the privacy concerns and wants to work with Congress on a potential solution, he said.
Meanwhile, travelers are celebrating the recent TSA changes.
Following the shoe policy announcement, social media was flooded with memes from people cheering the move and particularly the hope that they’ll no longer have to look at gross or smelly feet when they go through security checkpoints.
Brooke Towe, a travel agent from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who flies about 10 times a year, experienced the new shoe policy firsthand in July. “It went so much smoother,” she said.
She’s excited to hear the rule on liquids may be next to go, since it tends to cause the most panic for her clients, especially those who don’t fly often.
“That would be a huge win for everyone who flies,” she said.
Now, for the first time in almost 20 years, they’re having a different experience.
Pre-flight screening as of last month no longer requires passengers to take off their shoes and run them through X-ray machines. Up next: Officials have signaled they intend to ease the rule limiting containers of carry-on liquids to no more than 3.4 ounces, though it’s unclear whether it would apply to all passengers and airports or a select few to start.
The changes “sound small maybe in a vacuum or in a silo, but in aggregate these are things that have significant impacts to the passenger,” Adam Stahl, acting deputy administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, said in an interview Thursday, just ahead of a Labor Day weekend in which the TSA expects to screen almost 17.4 million passengers, 2% above last year’s total.
Stahl wouldn’t get into specifics about potential changes to the liquids rule, but said the agency expects an announcement in the near future, adding that it’s a “huge priority” for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Rules on pulling laptops out of carry-ons for screening is another area being looked at, he said.
In addition, the TSA last month began a pilot program to allow some international travelers catching connecting flights in the US to avoid screening during the layover — beginning with select flights from London. It’s also been expanding the use of biometrics for identity verification.
The revamp from President Donald Trump’s administration marks a sea change from a system that ingrained habits like showing up to the airport hours early, wearing easily removable shoes and checking bags to stow a favorite perfume. The inconveniences so frustrated travelers that it spawned a company, Clear Secure Inc., that allowed those willing to pay the chance to speed through security, and prompted millions of people to endure extra TSA vetting for PreCheck status that somewhat eased their burden.
If the changes are made, it could help make things smoother for an influx of visitors for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. Whether they’ll be enough to offset the effects of some new obstacles for foreign visitors, such as cautionary travel advisories from their home countries and higher tourist fees included in the president’s signature tax and spending package, remains to be seen.
“This is a pretty big, defining movement for TSA,” said Ryan Propis, an expert on travel security for the US Travel Association, an industry group.
Balancing Risks
The rules around shoes and liquids were put in place in 2006 in response to attempted terrorist attacks in the aftermath of 9/11. In December 2001, failed “shoe bomber” Richard Reid sought to ignite explosives packed in one of his sneakers on an American Airlines flight. In August 2006, terrorists plotted to detonate liquid explosives on planes traveling from the UK to the US and Canada.
Some critics have argued many of the rules following 9/11, which also included no longer allowing people to wear coats during screening and restricting access to arrival and departure terminals, were excessive and amounted to “security theater.”
Current and former government officials have pushed back against those claims.
“The threats are real, the stakes are high,” said John Pistole, who led the TSA from 2010 to 2014.
Improvements in technology since 2006 are one of the major factors that have allowed the government to revisit some of those procedures, according to Jeff Price, a professor in the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
But the government’s security apparatus must walk a tightrope between guarding the public against attacks and ensuring free-flowing travel.
“If you lock things down too much, no one flies,” Price said. “If you open the door too much, everyone attacks.”
Stahl said the TSA won’t do anything to jeopardize security. “We’re becoming a little more laser focused, a little more innovative, and embracing technology,” he said.
The shoe policy change put the US in line with other global aviation hubs including the European Union, Dubai and Singapore, which typically don’t require travelers to take off their shoes when going through airport security. Most international airports restrict liquids to containers that are 100 milliliters or 3.4 ounces, but some places in the UK have been trying out higher limits.
Liquid Options
As officials reconsider the limits on carry-on liquids, any change would likely increase the amount permitted to be brought through security, rather than totally eliminating the restriction, according to two people familiar with the government’s thinking who asked not to be identified discussing the plans.
Stahl wouldn’t comment on specifics but said the TSA is “looking at a variety of options.”
Security experts say that to safely and broadly allow for larger liquids, the US would likely need to ramp up its rollout of computed tomography machines, which can create 3D images and are better than their predecessors at detecting explosives and other threats.
Such devices are already at 285 of the 432 US commercial airports, according to the TSA, but full deployment isn’t expected until 2043. Officials are looking at ways to accelerate that, Stahl said.
Biometrics Battle
The administration has also been looking to expand the use of biometric data to verify travelers’ identities and speed up security lines — a push that’s been the subject of backlash from lawmakers and data privacy groups.
Such efforts have drawn resistance.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill this year to set more guardrails around facial recognition technology. The TSA already says the screening is voluntary, but the legislation would mandate that requirement and would also prohibit the agency from treating those who opt out poorly.
Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, postponed a planned vote on the bill last month after intense lobbying from travel groups, airlines and airport executives. But the battle is expected to continue when Congress returns from its August recess.
Biometrics and facial recognition are “arguably one of the most effective forms of identity verification,” Stahl said. But the TSA understands the privacy concerns and wants to work with Congress on a potential solution, he said.
Meanwhile, travelers are celebrating the recent TSA changes.
Following the shoe policy announcement, social media was flooded with memes from people cheering the move and particularly the hope that they’ll no longer have to look at gross or smelly feet when they go through security checkpoints.
Brooke Towe, a travel agent from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who flies about 10 times a year, experienced the new shoe policy firsthand in July. “It went so much smoother,” she said.
She’s excited to hear the rule on liquids may be next to go, since it tends to cause the most panic for her clients, especially those who don’t fly often.
“That would be a huge win for everyone who flies,” she said.
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