PITTSBURGH — Federal security officials are considering allowing airplane passengers once more to say their hellos and goodbyes to friends and loved ones at the gate.
Pittsburgh International Airport is in position to become the nation’s first major airport to be allowed to abandon the post-September 11 rule that says only ticketed passengers are allowed past security checkpoints.
Airport officials and western Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation have pushed for two years for the change for reasons of money and passenger convenience.
Officials with the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) met recently with Pittsburgh officials and expect to review a rough draft of the plan later this spring. It could take effect by summer if approved by the Homeland Security Department, said JoAnn Jenny, spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which runs the airport.
It also could become a model for other airports, including the local ones, though TSA officials say it is too early to determine when.
“This is new, this is exciting, because we’re basically rewriting the security directives in order to allow nonticketed passengers to go through security,” Miss Jenny said.
Pittsburgh is a strong candidate for the experiment for two reasons: It has a centralized security checkpoint in one terminal. And it has a full-scale shopping mall that has suffered a drop in business because only by ticketed passengers can access it.
If the change is approved, people without tickets will have to go through security just like passengers. They will be checked with metal detectors.
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