I have not seen too many posts on this subject, but I really wish we could spend more time with family and friends at the gate when we are sending off visitors...

I would expect the answer to be "never." Although a lot of the post-9/11 security measures are over the top, this one brings us in line with what's standard practice in most other countries, so I wouldn't expect it to go away (not that I agree with it).

I recommend private jets. No security 99% of the time, and you can bring your family with you right to the plane.

Sadly, allowing non-travlers to the gates to see people off would make the lines for security even longer than they are now!

Here's something I've been wondering though. They allow you to go through the security with a printout of your itinerary (at most airports, anyway). So, can't your loved one just print a "fake" itinerary and go through security? I realize this isn't ethical, and against the rules. I would never do it, but thought that if someone really want to see a loved one off, it wouldn't be that hard to do.

Thoughts?

My answer to this is "never again, I hope." I don't think the airport should be a social gathering place. It just creates unnecessary inconveniences for other pax--longer security lines, more folks crowding the gate area, slow-moving groups clogging the walkways. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to finally be rid of the family reunion scenes in SLC when the Mormon missionaries were departing/arriving. I'm also relieved that I no longer have to stand behind a couple saying their intimate goodbyes while I'm trying to board. I realize not everyone makes such a spectacle of themselves, but overall I think limiting the number of people in an already busy & overcrowded space is good practice.

Seriously, I have done this before. My travel agent sends me eticket itineraries by email, so it was not difficult to save on and modify it later for my families to use.

HOWEVER, now that they are requiring boarding passes, it is a little more difficult. What I have had to do is use the online-checking to print out a boarding pass to Adobe Acrobat, save it as a PDF, then delete name, date, and city-specific info and replace with blank fields for me to fill in with the correct formatting. Since the TSA does not scan the boarding pass, but rather check to make sure the city and date is right (and some places match the name to the photo ID) getting past security wouldn't seem that difficult. NOTE: I have not yet tried the latter method yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Just make sure that the boarding pass that you've PDF'd is for an airline that specific airport serves...

I have received a gate pass from UA to accompany my young sister to the gate when she was flying alone JFK-SFO-SYD-MEL.

goodo

LITTLE KNOWN FACT: the ticket counter agents can issue security passes to non travellers. I found this out with my 13 year old nephew. They offered, I declined.

Apparently these passes can be given out to anyone who has a good reason. Minor travelling alone was a good reason. Maybe disability would be a good reason?

Get creative, and post your experience here.

I would seriously advocate never forging a web check in/boarding pass. If the TSA caught you doing this I'm sure you would be immediately under suspicion as a terrorist, and they would probably have every reason to make your life very uncomfortable both then and in the future.

There's another, longer-term, problem with this, too. If forgeries of web check-in boarding passes turned up regularly because people were abusing the facility to get through security when not entitled to, it wouldn't be long before airlines were made to withdraw this facility. The selfish few would yet again have ruined a good thing for the larger majority.

You CANNOT be serious! In this day and age, I would have thought, at the very least, you run the risk of being treated as a suspected terrorist if caught in possession of forged documents at an airport. Just imagine all those hours in an isolation cell (on Cuba?) while they ransack your home and check out your computer...

oops. double post.

[This message has been edited by Dr. Zhivago (edited 01-21-2003).]

You may note have seen the last sentence of my post, where I said I haven't tried whether this works or not. But by just requiring a boarding pass of any sort, without checking its validity, they're opening the system up to forgery!

I'm not a terrorist.... just exposing a hole in their security facade anyway.

Do like I do: Buy a refundable ticket, check in, and then change your mind (as in don't take the trip). Refund ticket - and everyone is happy.