Well I faced this situation for the first time. My wife had a flight home Saturday afternoon on Southwest. I parked and thought that I would just wait for her in the lobby instead of circling the airport (cannot wait curbside any longer). Because of flight times I was at the airport about 30 minutes before she landed and I was hungry. I noticed that there was only 3 people in line at security so I approached the SW counter and asked for a pass to the boarding area. I explained that I was waiting for my wife and since there was no wait at secirity would it be O.K. to go up to buy some food (I guess my lack of flying lately has caused me to desire airport food) and watch a little football. The agent asked for my I.D. and my wife's name and flight number, verified everything in her computer, asked me a few security questions, then issued me a gate pass.

I think the key here was honesty. I did not try to B.S. the agent about my wife's health or buy a refundable ticket, I just asked for a pass in a polite way. If there was a line at security I would have just drank coffee and waited in the lobby, however the airport was fairly empty. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

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Ken in Sacramento