Im going to pick my sister up at the airport. Is it possible for me to ask someone at the ticket counter for a gate pass to meet my sister at the gate? how do I do this?

You go to the check-in counter for that airline.

Is there a special need for you to meet her airside?

No special need. Just want to be at the gate and help her to get out of the airport. she hasn't been to the airport in over 20 years....

How about a fully refundable ticket which you then cancel for full refund after you're past the knights saying "NI" that masquerade as airport security.

Fully Refundable Ticket, unless you're a member of the Presidents Club. Then, you might be permitted to beg for a gate pass to go to the Club. I'd go with the fully refundable ticket.

Fully refundable ticket is the way to go. Just be absolutely certain that the fare rules state that it's fully refundable.

You can do the whole thing without talking to any agents. Book the ticket online, buy it online, check in online, and process the refund online. Presto!

Just to add - I've actually done this before without buying fully-refundable tickets. I dont know about other airlines, but with United, I simply book a same-day ticket to Las Vegas from LA (any cheap fare), and they fully refunded it, as their policy is that any ticket is fully refundable within 24 hours of purchase. I just call them and book it on the way to the airport and cancel it while taking the escalator out of the "security" area.

Make sure you cancel *before* the flight boards!. Even refundable tickets may not be refundable if you are a no-show! This can be tricky, since if you are *too* early for a flight, TSA can give you a hard time for that!

Also, make sure that you choose an airline that won't go bankrupt while you are at the gate ;-)

Of course, cancellation can be made right after the BP is printed, whether it's printed at home, or at an AP kiosk. Despite the magic flashlights and the advanced magnification tools, the knights/officers, of course, know not the difference.

I wouldn't recommend it.

Technically, you need a "business"-related reason to gain access to a secured area of the airport. Having a ticket on a flight that day gives you a "business"-related reason. But the instant you refund the ticket (or cancel the reservation), you have eliminated that reason, and you therefore would be in the security area under false pretenses. It doesn't matter what the printed boarding pass says; it matters what the airline computers say.

So, I would recommend that you book the fully-refundable ticket for a LATE flight (perhaps the last one of the day). That way, you can go to the airport, see your family off, then LEAVE the security area before you refund the ticket.

Yes, you could print the boarding pass at home and cancel before you even go to the airport, and YES, probably the TSA would never find out. But you wouldn't want to get caught with a "false" boarding pass if the TSA were to decide to have the airline check out your pass....or if you were at one of the stations (like ORD) where TSA has started scanning all barcodes to compare the printed pass to the data in the airline computers. Not worth the risk of ending up on an SSSS list, IMHO.