July 9, 2025
THAT SOUND you heard was the sudden rejoicing of tens of millions of U.S. air travelers. They’re whooping it up because TSA just rescinded its longstanding requirement for passengers to remove their shoes prior to screening. The change was announced on July 7th. It came without warning and went into effect immediately.
The shoe rule was put in place in 2006, five years after British terrorist Richard Reid attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight with explosives hidden in his sneakers.
“Thanks to our cutting-edge technological advancements and multi-layered security approach,” said the agency in a press release, “We are confident we can implement this change while maintaining the highest security standards.”
Whatever that means, exactly, is unclear. The important part is, lines will move more quickly.
One of my biggest gripes with airport security has been how entrenched the rules and protocols have become. Aside from the PreCheck program, not much has changed since the early 2000s — other than the fact we’ve gotten used to it all. There’s been little outside pressure to overhaul or re-think our berserk approach to keeping the skies safe, and travelers have merely grown accustomed to the tedium. The time and resources we’ve wasted over the last two decades is staggering.
So consider me surprised. And encouraged.
Hopefully the rest of the world will follow suit. Most of Europe and Asia came to their senses a while back, but a number of countries still make flyers doff their Birckenstocks.
We hope, too, that the liquids and gels policy is next.
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Photos courtesy of Getty Images and Unsplash.
