Apologies if this has been covered before..

I was on my way to JFK last week with my cousin - we were trying to go through security line using the SP lane, as usual. But the employee told us that my cousin can't go with me as they have to be immediate family, even though we were on the same itinerary. The employee said 'it's a new thing'.

Has anyone heard of this thing before? or has it always been around?

Thanks FFers!