Another option would have been to book an hour of conference room time. The $50 or so that they charge is probably worth it over begging an agent or booking a ticket to refund later.
Originally Posted by
chuck1
I've actually found all airlines to be relatively unreceptive to giving out gate passes even for unaccompanied minor arrivals.
Just last week at Kona I was meeting my nieces and nephew traveling as UMs with UA.
I went to the UA KOA counter and they said they didn't really want to give them and that they would be brought to baggage claim.
I really wanted to greet them and the UA counter was totally empty as was the TSA check point.
They gave it and when I got to the EMPTY TSA check point, the initial blue shirt agent asked why I had a gate pass as that section at KOA had no departures scheduled for quite a while. I explained and she told me that she would have to see if the supervisor would honor it!
I guess now the TSA can choose to even accept the gate pass even before you go through screening.
Back when I was young enough to travel was a UM, it was actually mandatory that the person receiving a UM was present at the gate. I don't know what it is now, but I would venture to say that both the UA person and the TSA were not acting properly.
As far as what the TSA can choose to do, no they can't choose to accept a gate pass. The airline actually controls access, outside of the limited administrative search for WEI.