Airmall access expected to return in Nov
 

Pittsburgh Live Article

"The Airmall at Pittsburgh International Airport will open just in time for the holiday shopping season.
A pilot-program set to start sometime next month would permit people without airline tickets to pass into the secured portion of the airport, lined with airline gates and Airmall stores.

"It's very much on track and there really aren't any major hurdles we have to clear," said JoAnn Jenny, an Allegheny County Airport Authority spokeswoman."

It's about time! Acess to non-travelers to airside should never have been denied in the first place, since a refundable ticket will generate just that.

This should also mean the end of looking at tickets and IDs. There's no valid reason to ID a shopper and someone with a boarding pass and no carryons could just put their BP in their underwear and head to the gates instead of shopping.

This would be an excellent way to save a lot of money. No ID checks, no BP checks, no SSSS harassment. Somehow, I bet the TSA will botch this opportunity to save money and reduce harassment. :(

I can't believe it will be that easy. I agree that there's no reason to check the ID of shoppers- but that would mean that anyone wishing to get throught the line faster could say, "I'm not a passenger- just going to The Sharper Image".

What this would also do is make boarding areas even more crowded. As it is, there's barely enough room for everyone to sit when the plane is full. Add the whole family coming in to see Grandma and Grandpa get off the inbound and it will be a zoo. (Yes, I love my PriorityPass that lets me bypass this in favor of lounges, but they're not available close by for every flight I take.)

Not only will the screening areas be zoo like; the lines will take even longer for travelling pax to get through.

I don't view keeping non-travellers out as a security measure, but an expediency measure for the travellers who (through their ticket tax) pay for the checkpoints.

Of course, I'm sure some misguided sole at TSA/DOT/DHS views keeping non-travellers out as a security measure.

With the elimination of the ID check and haraSSSSment, the checkpoints will move faster, even with additional people using it.

However, I am sure that the TSA will find a way to screw it all up.

I don't know how they are going to set the checkpoints or procedures but right now non passengers (escorts) are secondary screened. Hopefully they set up separate lines and lanes. Lines will be crazy.

You see, that is exactly what I mean about the TSA managing to screw it all up. Secondary-screening is nothing more than harassment. Making it the price of access airside for shoppers and escorts is insane.

I wish the screeners the best of luck. Although I am in favor of it for business revenue, and am against it because of potential sterile area overcrowding. This should be interesting...

The sterile area was not overcrowded prior to the idiotic policy of ticket-for-airside-access. Why should it be overcrowded now?

While there might have been a lot of additional people in the gate area or the terminal, I have never, ever heard of someone missing their flight or unsafe conditions airside because too many people were airside.

I wonder how many people will take advantage of it. Search me to go shopping? No way.
:td:

I guess you never have been to PIT, before or after 9/11. It's got enough room airside.

I was not referring to unsafe conditions resulting from overcrowding. I am sure that all airside areas were designed to handle the crowds. I am only referring to the potential inconveniences to the flying public. Some passengers may get upset that they would have to wait longer to get their cheeseburger or magazine. Then again, I am only assuming here. I may be way off.

You are right, I have not been to PIT. My comments were based on other airports I have visited that, during peak hours, were quite full with just passengers.

I guess it's another case of foot-in-mouth disease for me. :)

This is interesting.

Seems to me that the choices here must be to either (1) secondary every non-pax who go through or (2) cancel all SSSS secondary screenings at all airports.

Of course there are other options, but they don't make any logical sense.

I agree these are the only logical choices. Since I doubt congress/TSA have the guts to get rid of SSSS, I therefore hope they do not open the PIT Airmall to non-pax.

It sets a horrible, horrible precedent to have a shopping mall in the USA, any shopping mall, that requires that level of privacy invasion to enter. Such a precedent would eventually be used to restrict more forms of movement and commerce in non-airport environments for law-abiding citizens in the USA.

Why would anyone who was not flying that day decide to go to PIT to do their Christmas shopping anyway? Aren't there any other malls in the Pittsburgh area?

PIT security is a mess already w/o having extra Christmas shoppers. I've never seen it when there was no long line snaking down the middle of the hall. Thank goodness for the elite line there.