5 ms·

Your loved ones could greet or see you off at the gate.

ars 17y ago
No they couldn't. Not in any airport I'd ever been at. You always needed a boarding pass, or a pass saying you needed to accompany someone (for medical reasons, or for minors) to get through security.
- rgrieselhuber 17y ago
  You didn't fly through Columbus, Ohio then.
- allenp 17y ago
  Portland, OR would let you go the gate without a boarding pass...
- jemfinch 17y ago
  Not my experience in US airports. That restriction didn't exist at most airports (any airports that I boarded or arrived at) until after 9/11. Watch TV shows from the era (Friends, for example, or the Jet Li "Romeo and Juliet" movie) and you'll see the same thing: we used to be able to see people off at the gate. Such people still needed to go through security, of course, but they did not need a boarding pass to do so.
  - thwarted 17y ago
    I actually think lack of people who are not traveling at the gate almost makes having to spend any time in an airport terminal almost bearable.
- ra 17y ago
  In the US maybe. In most countries anyone can get to the gate in a domestic terminal.
- icefox 17y ago
  Not only did you not need a pass, but often times people would go to the boarding area and watch planes go off for an afternoon of 'fun'. Others would go and photograph all the planes (in case any crashed they would cash in $$$)
  - petewarden 17y ago
    > in case any crashed they would cash in $$$ Doesn't sound like much of a business model. As I understand it, Plane Spotting is much more of a nerdy hobby with the goal of spotting unusual or interesting craft, as well as accumulating lots of 'spots': http://www.planespotters.net/ http://www.planespotters.net/ In a hacker vein, some of these folks' observations were crucial to uncovering the secret CIA bases in eastern Europe: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/dec/10/usa.terrorism1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/dec/10/usa.terrorism1
    - icefox 17y ago
      very neat.
- nfnaaron 17y ago
  This is one of things that I used to be able to do, that I miss the most. Yes, you could. I feel a big difference hugging a loved one goodbye when they enter the security maze, compared to when they disappear from sight at the gate. They dribble away at the security maze, but man, at the gate they're taken from you. You see the plane door close and suddenly they're not even breathing the same air as you. And when the plane taxis away, if you're at the gate you can press your face against the glass and watch, and wave if you're lucky. At some airports, like Seattle, it's possible to watch the plane through the entire taxi and takeoff. When my (now ex) wife flew from Seattle to China, I remember watching the MD11 take off, and following the plane until I couldn't see it and then the exhaust until I couldn't see it and finally watching nothing but empty sky. Security theater merely irritates and angers me, but here they've taken away an emotional thing from me.
- run4yourlives 17y ago
  It was a US thing. Most international airports never allowed it. Undeserved downvotes folks.
- sophacles 17y ago
  I don't know why people keep voting this guy down. Just because you could go to the gate in the US doesn't mean it was true everywhere. My dad travelled internationally a lot for work and frequently mentioned how much tighter airport security was in a lot of places.
- blahedo 17y ago
  Not only could you, but some airports counted on it. Midway Airport in Chicago was just completing a massive rebuild in 2001 and the new terminal had (has!) a big area immediately behind security that was designed as a meeting place with cafes for people seeing someone off; the way it's designed there's no way to move security the other side of this, and so it never took off the way they intended.

ars 17y ago

No they couldn't. Not in any airport I'd ever been at. You always needed a boarding pass, or a pass saying you needed to accompany someone (for medical reasons, or for minors) to get through security.

rgrieselhuber 17y ago
You didn't fly through Columbus, Ohio then.
allenp 17y ago
Portland, OR would let you go the gate without a boarding pass...
jemfinch 17y ago
Not my experience in US airports. That restriction didn't exist at most airports (any airports that I boarded or arrived at) until after 9/11. Watch TV shows from the era (Friends, for example, or the Jet Li "Romeo and Juliet" movie) and you'll see the same thing: we used to be able to see people off at the gate. Such people still needed to go through security, of course, but they did not need a boarding pass to do so.
- thwarted 17y ago
  I actually think lack of people who are not traveling at the gate almost makes having to spend any time in an airport terminal almost bearable.
ra 17y ago
In the US maybe. In most countries anyone can get to the gate in a domestic terminal.
icefox 17y ago
Not only did you not need a pass, but often times people would go to the boarding area and watch planes go off for an afternoon of 'fun'. Others would go and photograph all the planes (in case any crashed they would cash in $$$)
- petewarden 17y ago
  > in case any crashed they would cash in $$$ Doesn't sound like much of a business model. As I understand it, Plane Spotting is much more of a nerdy hobby with the goal of spotting unusual or interesting craft, as well as accumulating lots of 'spots': http://www.planespotters.net/ http://www.planespotters.net/ In a hacker vein, some of these folks' observations were crucial to uncovering the secret CIA bases in eastern Europe: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/dec/10/usa.terrorism1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/dec/10/usa.terrorism1
  - icefox 17y ago
    very neat.
nfnaaron 17y ago
This is one of things that I used to be able to do, that I miss the most. Yes, you could. I feel a big difference hugging a loved one goodbye when they enter the security maze, compared to when they disappear from sight at the gate. They dribble away at the security maze, but man, at the gate they're taken from you. You see the plane door close and suddenly they're not even breathing the same air as you. And when the plane taxis away, if you're at the gate you can press your face against the glass and watch, and wave if you're lucky. At some airports, like Seattle, it's possible to watch the plane through the entire taxi and takeoff. When my (now ex) wife flew from Seattle to China, I remember watching the MD11 take off, and following the plane until I couldn't see it and then the exhaust until I couldn't see it and finally watching nothing but empty sky. Security theater merely irritates and angers me, but here they've taken away an emotional thing from me.
run4yourlives 17y ago
It was a US thing. Most international airports never allowed it. Undeserved downvotes folks.
sophacles 17y ago
I don't know why people keep voting this guy down. Just because you could go to the gate in the US doesn't mean it was true everywhere. My dad travelled internationally a lot for work and frequently mentioned how much tighter airport security was in a lot of places.
blahedo 17y ago
Not only could you, but some airports counted on it. Midway Airport in Chicago was just completing a massive rebuild in 2001 and the new terminal had (has!) a big area immediately behind security that was designed as a meeting place with cafes for people seeing someone off; the way it's designed there's no way to move security the other side of this, and so it never took off the way they intended.