SFO drops shoes-off rule at TSA security checkpoints
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Travelers wait in line at a security checkpoint at San Francisco International Airport. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Passengers at San Francisco International Airport no longer need to take their shoes off during preflight security checks.
The big picture: It's one of several airports rolling out the change, marking the first time in almost 20 years that general passengers can skip the Transportation Security Administration's footwear removal policy.
Driving the news: On Tuesday afternoon, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the shoes-on policy will take effect at airports nationwide.
- The new procedure will be enacted in multiple phases and has already taken effect for all flights at SFO, airport spokesperson Doug Yakel confirmed to Axios on Tuesday.
- Passengers will still need to remove their shoes for additional screening if they trigger scanner or magnetometer alarms, per an internal memo obtained by ABC News.
Caveat: The new procedure will not apply to passengers without a REAL ID.
Why it matters: A 2024 analysis of U.S. Customs and Border Protection data found that TSA wait times are usually less than 27 minutes on average. Eliminating the policy could shave some time off the security process.
- Passengers willing to pay $78 every five years for TSA PreCheck have been able to keep their shoes on since 2013 and have an average wait time of less than 10 minutes, according to the expedited security program.
Between the lines: The policy change, first reported by travel newsletter Gate Access, has been expected for a while, with select airports implementing shoe-scanning technology in previous years.
Flashback: TSA initiated the shoes-off policy in 2006, five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a 2001 incident in which a passenger attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers on an American Airlines flight.
- Fellow passengers thwarted his plan, and the plane landed safely in Boston.
What they're saying: "We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints," Noem said in a news release Tuesday.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the timeline of when TSA first implemented the shoes-off policy, to reflect that those with TSA PreCheck were able to keep their shoes on since 2013 (not 2006) and to include comments from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.