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TSA to Stop Requiring Shoe Removal for Non-PreCheck Passengers
By Reuters | 08 Jul, 2025

A 19-year TSA policy requiring passengers to take off their shoes for security checks to enter airport departure areas has ended.

A traveler removes his shoes before going through a security check point at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, February, 29, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Burton/File Photo

The Transportation Security Administration will no longer require travelers to remove their shoes during security checks at U.S. airports, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday, ending an unpopular policy.

TSA had been requiring most U.S. air travelers to remove their shoes during screening for nearly two decades.

"We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints, leading to a more pleasant and efficient passenger experience," Noem said in a statement. 

TSA began making passengers remove their shoes to screen for explosives in August 2006. The policy was implemented nearly five years after the 9/11 attacks and when Richard Reid, who is known as the "shoe bomber," used matches in an attempt to ignite explosive devices hidden in his shoes on a flight from Paris to Miami.

In 2013, TSA launched the PreCheck Trusted Traveler program, whose members are not required to remove their shoes. Children under 12 and adults 75 years or older are exempt from removing their shoes.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that other aspects of TSA's security process would remain unchanged. 

"For example, passengers (must) still clear identity verification, Secure Flight vetting, and other processes," the department said.

(Additional reporting by Jasper WardEditing by Marguerita Choy and Rami Ayyub)