NEWS: TSA Scraps Big Plans for Airport Security Changes

It’s been an interesting year for travel, and if you’ve flown this year, you might have noticed that lines at TSA security have just been getting longer and longer.

Orlando International Airport TSA security checkpoint

Now, there are PAID ways to get through security faster, like TSA PreCheck, CLEAR, or Global Entry. However, earlier this year, the TSA rolled out Gold+, which would privatize security at select airports. Well, now, it looks like TSA is abandoning the TSA Gold+ program.

TSA Gold+ was an effort to pair the Screening Partnership Program and TSA’s authorities to create advanced security at select airports that opt in to the program. The idea was to privatize security at airports, so that in the event of a government shutdown, airports could still operate at full efficiency (as TSA employees are federal workers). Now, according to the Federal News Network, TSA is dropping Gold+.

The TSA will now expand public-private partnerships and will replace Gold+ with an “evolved” Screening Partnership Program. So basically, the idea is that private companies could still run security at commercial airports, but they would still fall under TSA oversight. Right now, 20 commercial airports in the U.S. are already using this system. The TSA also wants to add enhancements to TSA PreCheck by “improving the passenger experience, streamlining the acquisition of new technology, expanding TSA’s capabilities to counter the threat of unmanned aircraft systems and advancing other key priorities.”

This comes after Tampa International Airport, which had previously decided to sign on to the Gold+ program, reversed its decision. The airport just announced that it will continue its TSA screening with its existing TSA employees. Two other airports, Charleston International Airport and Des Moines International Airport, had agreed to Gold+, but have not yet made a statement.