Passengers at some airports across the U.S. no longer have to remove their shoes during regular TSA security checks, two sources familiar with the change confirmed to CBS News on Monday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also seemed to confirm the change, calling it “big news” from the Department of Homeland Security in a post on X early Tuesday.
The change appears to be a phased approach, sources said, and the first airports where the no-shoes requirement is expiring include Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Portland International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina.
However, CBS News correspondents at Los Angeles International Airport and New York City’s LaGuardia Airport reported Monday night that they and other passengers didn’t have to take off their shoes.
Travelers with TSA PreCheck already didn’t have to remove their footwear. In order to have PreCheck, travelers must submit an application and go through a clearance process with the Transportation Security Administration.
The change comes amid reports that the TSA has let the security rule expire for fliers going through the standard TSA screening lines.
In a statement to CBS News on Monday, TSA said the agency and the Department of Homeland Security “are always exploring new and innovative ways to enhance the passenger experience and our strong security posture.”
The no-shoes rule was implemented by TSA nationwide in 2006. The official adoption of the rule came several years after Richard Reid, a British man who would come to be known as the “shoe bomber,” attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoe in December 2001. Reid failed to detonate the explosives, and the plane landed safely in Boston after passengers helped subdue him.
Following that incident, airlines and TSA began asking passengers to voluntarily remove their shoes when going through security.
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