TSA Boarding Pass Confusion Explained

21 Oct 2009 05:13 pm

Yesterday I posted on the seeming randomness of TSA's boarding-pass demands. Then I dispatched Goldblog Homeland Security Correspondent Tali Yahalom to sniff out the actual rules governing what you need -- and what you don't need -- to traverse the most dangerous places in America, the unprotected, tightly-packed security lines at airports. She spoke with a TSA flack, Sterling Payne, who had this to say about the policy:

• Because identity matters, TSA took over the travel document checking process to ensure passengers boarding pass and identification are authentic and the person is who they say they are. Earlier this year, in an attempt to streamline the security screening process and to create efficiencies, TSA gave local airports the option to no longer request to see passenger boarding passes at the walk through metal detector. While most airports have adopted this streamlined process, some airports may continue to request boarding passes be shown a second time at their discretion.