Pittsburgh may lead way in easing of airport rules

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh International could become the nation's first major airport to get the okay to abandon the post-Sept. 11 rule that says only ticketed passengers are allowed past security checkpoints.

Federal security officials are considering allowing people once more to say their hellos and goodbyes to friends and loved ones at the gate.

Airport officials and western Pennsylvania's congressional delegation have pushed for two years for the change for reasons of money and passenger convenience.

What happens here could become a model for other airports.

"This is new, this is exciting, because we're basically rewriting the security directives in order to allow nonticketed passengers to go through security," said JoAnn Jenny, spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which runs the airport.

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 it is reachable only by ticketed passengers.

If the change is approved, people without tickets will have to go through security just like passengers. They will be checked with metal detectors and may have to empty their pockets and handbags and take off their shoes.

Brenda Geoghagan, spokeswoman for Tampa International Airport, said there was no plan for TIA to be included in the program immediately. She said it was the second time the idea of loosening gate restrictions had come up.

"There was talk about letting families of soldiers shipping out from here go to to the gates on special request," Geoghagan said. "But so far we haven't had anybody request that. It seems like (the federal Transportation Security Administration is) loosening up, but I think our local TSA people would decide these things on a case-by-case basis."

TSA officials 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, Jenny said.

Certain issues still need to be worked out, such as how to prevent the people without tickets from holding up passengers during peak travel times.

"There's a customer service benefit to be had here, but at the end of the day, the security of the flying public at the Pittsburgh airport is going to come before anything else," said Ann Davis, TSA's Northeast regional spokeswoman. "And I think passengers appreciate that."

In the security crackdown after Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration said the nation's airports may no longer allow people without tickets past security checkpoints. It was among several security measures, some of which have since been relaxed, such as a ban on curbside pickups and the parking of cars close to terminals.

In certain hardship cases - say, if an airline passenger is disabled, cannot speak English or is a child - a friend or family member can get a pass to go through security and accompany the traveler.

And in January, the TSA started allowing military families to accompany soldiers to airline gates.

But everybody else still says their goodbyes on this side of the security apparatus, which experts say discourages some people from traveling and keeps well-wishers from spending more money in the nation's airports.

One industry expert said the Pittsburgh plan makes sense because airports need all the revenue they can find.

- Times staff writer Jean Heller contributed to this report.

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