The shoes off policy ends at airport security checkpoints effective immediately has finally been officially confirmed amid speculation that the policy had already been in effect — meaning that all passengers are no longer required to removed their shoes when passing through a security checkpoint at airports across the United States.
Shoes Off Policy Ends at Airport Security Checkpoints Effective Immediately
Other aspects of the layered security approach that are currently implemented by the Transportation Security Administration will still apply during the security checkpoint process — including requiring passengers to clear identity verification, Secure Flight vetting, ensuring that a limited amount of liquids and gels are packed properly, and other processes.
The new policy will increase hospitality for travelers and streamline the security checkpoint process, which will lead to lower wait times.
“Ending the ‘Shoes-Off’ policy is the latest effort DHS is implementing to modernize and enhance traveler experience across our nation’s airports,” Kristi Noem — who is the current secretary for the Department of Homeland Security of the United States — said, according to this official press release from yesterday, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. “We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints, leading to a more pleasant and efficient passenger experience. As always, security remains our top priority. Thanks to our cutting-edge technological advancements and multi-layered security approach, we are confident we can implement this change while maintaining the highest security standards.”
This official video of Kristi Noem is from a press conference at Washington National Airport which you can watch in its entirety.
Anecdotal evidence suggested amid numerous reports throughout the media that the policy ended long before the official announcement, which reportedly led to initial confusion among passengers at security checkpoints at airports around the country.
A Brief History of What Led to the Requirement of Removing Shoes
The required procedure was in effect chiefly because Richard Reid — who was infamously known as the Shoe Bomber — attempted to blow up a commercial aircraft that operated as American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami on Saturday, December 22, 2001. Reid wore shoes aboard the airplane that were packed with explosives, which he unsuccessfully attempted to detonate. Passengers subdued him aboard the airplane during the flight, which was diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston, where Reid was arrested, charged, and indicted. Reid is currently serving a sentence of three life terms plus 110 years in prison without a chance for parole after he plead guilty to eight federal criminal counts of terrorism at the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Friday, October 4, 2002 — including:
- Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction
- Attempted homicide
- Placing or transporting an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft or public mass transportation vehicle
- Attempted murder
- Two counts of interference with flight crew members and attendants on an aircraft
- Attempted destruction of an aircraft or public mass transportation vehicle
- Using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence
- Attempted destruction of an aircraft
The eventual response by the Transportation Security Administration was to require that all passengers remove their shoes before being screened at airport security checkpoints; and a secondary screening awaited passengers who refused — a policy I always thought was ridiculous.
Passengers who were enrolled in a trusted passenger program — such as TSA Pre✓ and Global Entry as two examples — were permitted to wear their shoes throughout the entire process of being screened at security checkpoints at designated airports.
Final Boarding Call
“Perhaps one day, the requirement for passengers to remove the shoes from their feet will be rescinded — and I believe that that time is long overdue…” is what I wrote in this article pertaining to one obvious way to spot an American in an airport security checkpoint outside of the United States.
After almost 24 years, that day has finally arrived: the inherently useless policy to remove shoes — which did absolutely nothing to increase the safety and security of passengers, in my opinion — is finally gone, as the United States was one of only a few countries around the world which implemented this requirement due to what I consider to be an overreaction by the Transportation Security Administration.
I always believed that walking on those floors with bare feet or socks — only to be put back into the shoes afterwards — was disgusting; so I used to carry a pair of booties into which I would slip my feet. Only once did I have an issue with those booties over the years at an airport — I will not mention its name of Newark International Airport, just to keep it anonymous — where I was ordered to remove them.
I vehemently believe that the restriction on liquids and gels at the security checkpoints at airports should be the next useless policy to be eliminated, as I wrote in this article on Thursday, November 17, 2022. In fact, that is the topic of the very first official article that was published here at The Gate With Brian Cohen on Friday, August 18, 2006, which is called Liquids and Gels: What Is Allowed to Carry On Board and What Is Not Allowed? — as well as a follow-up article published exactly five years later called Should the Limitations on Liquids Be Repealed? and this Stupid Tip of the Day: Traveling With Liquid Toiletries.
In conclusion, I leave you with some levity from the official X account of Tampa International Airport:
“The TSA will now let you keep your shoes on through security at TPA!!!!!*
“*unless you’re wearing Crocs…you should take those off and throw them away”
All photographs ©2018, ©2020, ©2021, and ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
