Search

Search bills, members, committees and pages...

Salt Lake airport part of TSA program allowing gateside hellos and goodbyes for non-travelers

Salt Lake City International Airport is one of 14 airports that will allow approved visitors to send off or greet travelers at airport gates rather than waiting outside security checkpoints. Gateside passes are available to those approved by the Transportation Security Administration for TSA PreCheck, according to a TSA webpage about the program. The passes […]

Utah News Dispatch · McKenzie Romero · September 3, 2026

People walk through Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Salt Lake City International Airport is one of 14 airports that will allow approved visitors to send off or greet travelers at airport gates rather than waiting outside security checkpoints.

Gateside passes are available to those approved by the Transportation Security Administration for TSA PreCheck, according to a TSA webpage about the program .

The passes are free and require an application one to three days before the visit using a known traveler number, according to the website, and visitors can enter the airport through TSA PreCheck lanes. Children can also be included on the pass.

“As an exclusive benefit for our most trusted travelers, this new program makes it easier to return to the gate for welcomes and send-offs, meet friends during a layover, and enjoy dining and shopping along the way, bringing back the moments that once defined air travel,” the website states.

Accommodations for non-travelers accompanying a child or elderly passenger or a passenger with accessibility needs to airport gates currently exist through individual airlines, according to the airport .

Salt Lake City’s airport is known for large, emotional gatherings as family and friends greet missionaries from the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when they return home after up to two years of service. The airport’s remodel even includes a greeting room just outside the security exit intended to move large greeting parties out of the walkway, with mixed success .

The Salt Lake airport is the 24th busiest in the U.S. and the 98th busiest in the world, according to its website , with more than 330 departures daily with 100 nonstop travel destinations.

The 14 airports participating in the gateside program are:

Arizona: Mesa Gateway Airport

Arkansas: Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport

California: Los Angeles International Airport

California: San Diego International Airport

Indiana: Indianapolis International Airport

Kansas: Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport

Michigan: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Nebraska: Eppley Airfield

Nevada: Harry Reid International Airport

Ohio: John Glenn Columbus International Airport

Oklahoma: Will Rogers International Airport

Texas: Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

Utah: Salt Lake City International Airport

A Delta Airlines jet takes off at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Read the full story at Utah News Dispatch