can a person with no boarding pass get a "guest pass" to go thru security?
 

My family has a 6 hour layover at SEA. My sister works 2 miles from the airport and wants to see me and my baby during our layover. Its too much for me and my baby to leave the airport, go thru security, hook up the carseat and worry about getting back to the airport in time for our next flight. So, I'm wondering if its possibly for my sister to visit us at the airport? Could she go thru security without a boarding pass? I just heard of some sort of "guest pass" for this sort of situation but I cant find anything about it.
Thanks

I've gotten them to accompany an elderly, infirm passenger from gate to parking garage, but not since last November.
You might consider going through to the main terminal to meet her. You will have to go back through security yourself, but that doesn't seem to be much of a problem, given that you have lots of time.

Most methods of getting a "guest pass" are hit or miss.

The only foolproof method to go through security if you aren't intending to go anywhere is to buy a fully refundable ticket to anywhere and then cancel and refund once through the checkpoint.

The ticket does not have to be fully refundable. Purchase it within 24 hours of meeting up, and then cancel when you walk out. Refund will post within a few days.. This method has never failed for me.

Hmmmm, I knew about 24-hour refundability, but that also works if you check in and print a boarding pass? I would have guessed that checking in would unset the "refundable" flag.

When ready to leave the airport, I tell an agent in the RCC or at the check-in desk that something came up, and I can't make my flight. I then ask them to off-load me, and refund the ticket. I've done this three or four times so people can meet me at the airport, without making me go out and back through the nonsense that is TSA.

Welcome to FT! I second the refundable-ticket suggestion. It works.

And following it is not as hard as you might think. If your sister is less experienced than you at dealing with airlines, then you can buy the ticket in her name, she can check in at a kiosk, and you can do the refund process together either phone or online once she is with you. The hardest part depending on the airline may be that you have to "un check in" her prior to issuing the refund, and that's not very hard. (If all else fails, go to a gate agent.)

I have done this many times, both as the visitor and the traveler.

I have an elderly and partially blind neighbor. I always check in with her at the counter to check her bag. I always request a "guest pass" to accompany her through security to the gate. I have never had a problem.
I made sure that her special needs are noted in her airline profile. They know to escourt her airside on her return where I take over again.

The refundable ticket is probably the easiest method. Another option, if you are a member of an airline lounge, is to schedule a meeting in the lounge. They will arrange a pass for your guest(s) to clear security and meet you in the lounge.

Depends on the airline. At 24 hours out, though, you're practically in refundable ticket pricing territory anyway.

Thanks, I've never heard of the refundable ticket option before. I think for my sister, that would be too confusing and its all last minute (tomorrow) but good to know.

We might just go thru security and see her at the airport- not drive anywhere.

Security is such a pain thou. And things might be tight tomorrow due to all of this Bin Laden stuff.

Your layover is 6 hours, but is your sister going to be there the entire 6 hours? Since it's the middle of the work week, she will probably not have more than 1-2 hours with you, so staying in the airport is a good option.

Going through that refundable ticket thing seems like a lot of hassle. I think your best bet is to exit the sterile area, spend some time with your sister in the non-sterile part of the terminal, and re-enter security yourself when she leaves. If you schedule it right, you'll have plenty of time to get back through to your concourse, even with increased security due to the Bin Laden affair.

Nope, you just need to tell the CSR that "your boss cancelled the meeting" or some such. Then they will need to off load you and bingo, you're done.

Dave

Buying a ticket, and then cancelling after going through security with a boarding pass, seems ridiculous; SOMEONE is going to have to go through security regardless, might as well be the people with the baby (can avoid the cancer machine). Lots of places to meet up in the main terminal.

I broke my leg last year and was on crutches. I still traveled quite a bit. My family member when arriving home would stop at the desk, ask for a gate pass to come to the concourse, go through security and meet me. The airline agent issuing the gate pass occasionally verified I was on a flight list for an incoming flight, but that was it. There was never any follow up to confirm the broken leg story was legit.
Worked like a charm in numerous airports. Just fyi...;)

If the airline has a club and the traveler is a member, then it makes more sense to have the visitor use a refundable ticket.

No, it's not ridiculous. Depending on the airport, it may be much faster for the person visiting to go through security. I did this at MCO last May. Took my friend twenty minutes to get through, so he was able to wait at my gate when we landed. If I had gone out to meet him, then our time together would have been cut short by a large amount.

Non-Rev Works If You Can!
 

IF you can NR or have a friend that can help getting a non-rev ticket it's a good way to go.....IF you have access to it. Cancelling is just a keystroke.

It's actually pretty easy to buy the ticket and cancel it. I have done it several times. The funny thing is it has never been for the purpose of just getting to the airside. But, that's what it turned out to be. One of the times I was in the Skyclub at MCO and got tired of the delay and decided not to go. I had bought my ticket a few hours before and the agent cancelled it at the desk. I've also cancelled by phone and gate agents after checking in and going through security.

Not in my experience. Every time I've asked for one to escort my elderly parents to the gate, I've gotten one.

I vote for take the baby out to meet your sister on the other side of security. You have plenty of time to get back in even if the lines are quite long (which your sister will have to stand in anyways. There's just so much less hassle in doing it this way.

WE have gotten passes several times to go through security when our son was coming home from and returning to Afghanistan. They were more than happy and told us the first time that we could bring as many people as we wanted.

Getting a gate pass is at the discretion of the agent in the lobby. I would have your sister ask the agent if it is possible and explain the "baby" situation as the reason (and it would help if not only if you had all the flight info & confirmation number but if the baby is referenced in the reservation, that might help as well)

This is a different factual situation. You are accompanying someone with a clear need for assistance. Meeting someone transiting the airport is not a reason and, unless you get an agent who exercises discretion, you won't get it. I would seriously suggest, particularly given that you are at SEA, that you exit the airport, meet her and then head back through checkpoint yourself, even if they handed out passes.

I agree with all of the suggestions about doing the fully-refundable ticket option. However, I would modify one aspect of it: I recommend waiting to cancel the ticket until your visit is over and your sister leaves the secured area.

The reason is that once the ticket is canceled, the boarding pass granting access to the secured area becomes invalid. From that point, she would be in the secured area under false pretenses, and if an airline agent or TSA were to attempt to verify the validity of her boarding pass in the CRS, she could find herself in some trouble.

Now, it is unlikely that she would have to verify the boarding pass's validity again after passing through the checkpoint, but it's not out the realm of possibility.

I don't think your sister wants to risk having SSSS flags on her profile for a lengthy period of time because she made a mistake on one day.

So, in short, I would wait until she leaves the secured area (and no longer needs the boarding pass) to cancel the reservation and request the refund. And here's another suggestion: for her fully-refundable ticket, she should choose a flight that departs late in the day. That way, she has plenty of time to enjoy the secured area and then leave and cancel the reservation well before the flight would deaprt.

Just my $0.02.

I do not know how my mom does it but she always gets a guest pass to pick me up and drop me off. I have Cerebral Palsy, so it's just easier if I have an extra set of hands. Now my husband has tried to get a gate pass many times to escort me to the gate, it worked once and only once.
I'm not sure if it's because I state that I am disabled on every piece of paperwork possible, or if my mom is just known to be harmless, but I'd try making sure you put on your ticket request thing that you have special needs.

If it was in Norway and before the 15th of March this year you didn't need to worry about that hehe. No boarding pass check to enter the sterile area (and even the international area of the airport for a period, you could get out by going up the stairs and out through customs if you were in the Schengen area ). Because of EU regulations they are now checking boarding passes.

There are many valid reasons for being inside the sterile area without a valid boarding pass. Passengers that just came off an arriving flight and threw away their used BP, for one.

It doesn't matter what piece of paper you're holding. It matters what the airline computers can evidentiate. If you had just come off another flight, there would be a record in the system. But if you had booked a flight and then canceled it, you no longer would have a legitimate reason for being inside the secured area.

Not sure how much I'd test it, but "I had a valid ticket, decided not to fly today, cancelled it the moment I decided not to fly so that someone else could have my seat, and am [grabbing a coffee/using the lavatory/having a snack/visiting with friends before] leaving the airport" seems like a legitimate enough reason.

You don't have to be holding ANY piece of paper. That was my point. Even if TSA were to ask for a BP, there is no need to show one as there are valid reasons for being inside without one.

Couldn't you just take one of those print-at-home BPs and modify the dates? Sure, it wouldn't pass an actual inspection by someone scanning the bar code, but how often does that happen? Or does the TSA scan them now too? (I try to avoid the US so I haven't been subjected to them in a while.)

At the least, the airline might try to prosecute you for attempted fraud (potential theft of revenue by forging documents to travel without a legitimate ticket). At most, LEOs could arrest you for tampering with documents to gain access to a secure airport facility under false pretenses. Either way, it would not end well for you. Don't go there.

If you're that desperate to accompany your relatives beyond the security checkpoints when you are not traveling, just apply for a part-time job at that airport that includes security clearance! (hey, it's not that crazy of an idea!)

The situation you describe - you are not escorting or meeting someone on arrival to help them - I have never personally seen the an airline issue a gate pass. I have only seen airlines issue gate passes so that a person can provide assistance to someone leaving or arriving. Your particular situation is simply to have your sister meet you during your layover. I would bet that they do NOT give your sister a gate pass. But I am not the airlines, so I don't know. I have seen people ask in similar situations, but never receive one.

Maybe the refundable ticket will work?

I think that's the way to do. I did one the other day; I end up doing it about once per year.

On a side note, I know the refundable tickets make the airline employees a small bit of money at certain times of the year, or some of the employees. Example, during spring break, on their days off, they will have bought one or two refundable tickets on flights they know are booked. They have no intention of flying.

When the gate agent starts to ask people to be bumped off the flight for a later time or day, they wait till the airlines offer another ticket and cash. Then they take it, and after cancel their original ticket. I don't think they use the other ticket, but I do know they pocket the cash. I know of multiple employees from multiple airlines that do this. So with your example and that, I'm positive the refundable ticket is the way to go.