Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoint inside the Jeppesen Terminal at Denver International Airport (DEN) in Denver, Colorado, US, on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023.
A key pillar of post-9/11 airport security theater may finally be going away. Multiple outlets are reporting that the Transportation Security Administration will start allowing passengers at a few select airports to keep their shoes on while going through security checkpoints. No longer will we have to gaze upon our fellow travelers’ weird socks or — god forbid — bare feet while waiting in a security line.
The plan is to starting rolling out the new policy at a few airports starting this weekend. Previously only passengers with TSA Pre-Check were able to keep their shoes on in most cases. And of course the ultra wealthy who can afford to fly private can often avoid TSA screening — and shoe removal — altogether. The TSA said in a memo that it had explored “new and innovative ways to enhance the passenger experience,” according to Gate Access, which was the first to report the news. A TSA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plan is to starting rolling out the new policy at a few airports starting this weekend.
The TSA has required most travelers to remove their shoes since 2006, five years after failed shoe bomber Richard Reid tried to ignite 10-ounces of explosives in his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. The agency said that despite the failed attempt, intelligence suggested that others may attempt a copycat bombing — and thus we’ve all been forced to endure the humiliation of walking across cold airport floors in just our socks ever since.
The outlets reporting the imminent removal of the shoe removal policy make no mention about other annoying security theater elements, such as belt removal or the prohibition of liquids in containers larger than 3.4 ounces. Security theater is the practice of implementing measures designed to give the appearance of making things safer, despite doing very little to achieve that. Shoe removal has long been viewed as an utterly useless security measure that does nothing to make us safer but has nonetheless has remained in place for years.
“It’s like saying, Last time the terrorists wore red shirts, so now we’re going to ban red shirts,” Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer, computer security professional, and privacy specialist, told Vanity Fair in 2011. “Focusing on specific threats like shoe bombs or snow-globe bombs simply induces the bad guys to do something else. You end up spending a lot on the screening and you haven’t reduced the total threat.”
Please read the TSA’s full humiliating history by Darryl Campbell to learn more.
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TSA to finally end its dumb shoe removal policy for airport security