All U.S. airports to have family screening lanes

Nov. 11, 2008
TSA expanding self-selecting lanes idea in time for holidays

WASHINGTON -- Airports across the United States will have designated security lanes for families to move through preflight inspections at their own pace, just in time for the busy U.S. holiday travel season.

The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its family lanes to every security checkpoint in the United States by November 20. The popular lanes, which have been tested at 48 airports, provide a space for families and passengers who don't travel very often to move through security at their own pace.

People who carry prohibited items for medical needs - such as cough syrup, insulin, contact lens solution and breast milk or baby formula - will also be directed to the family lanes, the TSA said.

"Expanding these lanes to every airport and directing families and passengers with medically necessary liquids to them, increases passenger convenience and security," TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said in a statement Monday.

In August 2006, the TSA changed its screening policies after officials foiled a plot to use liquid explosives to blow up commercial airlines headed toward the United States. Intelligence officials remain concerned that terrorists could carry liquid explosives onto planes.

The U.S. government is testing equipment that scans liquids for explosives and hopes to lift the restriction in the future.