I suppose another option that's open if someone cannot get a special pass from the ticket agent would be to buy a fully refundable ticket for travel later that day.

Such a ticket will allow that person to get past the TSA checkpoint and to the gate to see the child off. The person could then leave the secure area, return to the front desk, and request a refund on the ticket that was purchased.

Since it would be a fully refundable ticket, the entire purchase price of the ticket should be refunded-- so it shouldn't matter how expensive the ticket was in the first place.

Has anybody tried this? Or have the powers that be already thought about this and figured out a way to "plug" this "hole"?