Yesterday at Chicago the "new" procedure was not in effect.

Arrived at AA, line was very short (less than 20 people). Screener appeared to be asking everyone to remove shoes. She pointed at mine, I told her "Don't worry, they won't alarm, and they are less than 1"." I walk through, no alarm. She put me in holding pen and I got the full screening. (Totally polite, but no differentiation based on "shoes only, no alarm, first time through detector."

Supervisor doesn't have a ruler (he agrees that it is pretty weird that across the US they seem unable to find a ruler at the screening areas). He says that he "probably" wouldn't have selected my shoes, since they don't appear to be 1" to him. He was also "surprised" that I knew that the standard was "appears to be more than 1"