Paighten HarkinsIf you’ve ever wanted to prolong an airport goodbye all the way to the gate, à la Rachel and Ross in the “Friends” finale, or greet a loved one right off the plane, you’re in luck.
Starting Tuesday, Salt Lake City International Airport is one of 14 U.S. airports chosen for the Transportation Security Administration’s new “Gateside by TSA PreCheck” program, which allows eligible nontravelers to go beyond the security checkpoint.
It can be used, according to TSA, “to meet family members at their gate, join a friend on a long layover for lunch or dinner, visit airport dining and shopping locations, or greet service members returning from deployment.”
To qualify for the day pass, nontravelers need to be enrolled in TSA PreCheck and provide their “Known Traveler Number.” They must apply for a day pass at secure.login.gov one to three days before their planned visit. Children can also visit but need to be included in their parent or guardian’s reservation.
One can enroll for TSA PreCheck through three vendors: CLEAR, IDEMIA and Telos.
When the new Salt Lake City airport opened in 2020, officials considered its needs as a landing pad for Latter-day Saint missionaries and created a public greeting room to give loved ones space to wait for those eagerly anticipated returns.
Those needs, however, were not a consideration for TSA, said spokesperson Dan Velez (although it’s sure to be a boon for missionaries and their families).
Instead, he said, TSA was looking for a mix of different airports to try out this program, and Salt Lake City fit the bill.
Velez said if this pilot program goes well, it will likely open at other airports with the required screening technology.
The program is part of the vision for what the TSA is calling the “golden age of travel,” Velez said, in which restrictions are loosened, and the atmosphere is “a little bit more friendly.” Other recent changes made through that effort include allowing most travelers to keep their shoes on at security checkpoints and opening dedicated “family lanes” at those checkpoints to “address the unique challenges parents face when traveling with young children.”
Other participating “Gateside” airports include:
• Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona.
• John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio.
• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas.
• Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Michigan.
• Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Kansas.
• Indianapolis International Airport in Indiana.
• Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada.
• Los Angeles International Airport in California.
• Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Arkansas.
• Chicago Midway International Airport in Illinois.
• Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma.
• Eppley Airfield in Nebraska.
• San Diego International Airport in California.
Paighten is an Enterprise reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune. She covers a variety of topics, including business, health, growth and the legal justice system — sometimes all at once. She is from southern Oklahoma, and lived and worked in the state, most recently at the Tulsa World, before starting at The Tribune in October 2017.