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TSA to end shoe removal policy at airport security

An air traveler places his shoes in a bin before passing through the Transportation Security Administration security check at Los Angeles International Airport in 2014. The White House on Tuesday confirmed that passengers nationwide will soon be able to keep their shoes on when going through TSA airport security screenings. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
By Joseph Wilkinson New York Daily News

All passengers will soon be able to keep their shoes on during TSA airport security screenings, the White House confirmed Tuesday.

TSA offices nationwide received an unexpected memo last week informing them of the change, sources told ABC News. The memo said the new policy was to begin on July 6.

“Big news from (the Department of Homeland Security),” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on social media in response to a report.

The new shoes-on mandate will not immediately go into effect across the country, NBC News reported. The change is being tested at specific airports before it is implemented nationwide.

Some of the test airports include Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington, Fort Lauderdale, Cincinnati and Piedmont Triad International in North Carolina, according to CBS News. Passengers at LaGuardia Airport and Los Angeles International Airport also told the outlet they kept their shoes on Monday night.

General boarding passengers have been asked to take their shoes off at airport security checkpoints since 2006. Passengers who clear a background check and pay an application fee to join TSA’s PreCheck program have been able to keep their shoes on.

The shoes-off mandate went nationwide in 2006, five years after a man flying from Paris to Miami tried to hide a bomb in his shoe. Richard Reid was unable to detonate his bomb and was subdued by other passengers; he is serving life in prison.