Whether or not you’re getting on a plane, you may soon be able to get in a TSA line—just to eat the pulled pork mac ’n’ cheese at Iron Chef Michael Symon’s namesake restaurant in Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).
Thanks to a new program starting on Sept. 5, non-fliers will be allowed to roam beyond security at PIT as part of a test the airport developed with the Transportation Security Administration’s sign-off. Visitors who check in at a dedicated counter on the airport’s third-floor ticketing level and show a driver’s license or passport can receive a complimentary “myPITpass.” Anyone on the no-fly list will not be allowed, and everyone will still have to go through TSA’s standard security procedures—just like travelers with a regular boarding pass.
For the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, parents of unaccompanied minors and the children of traveling elderly at the Pennsylvania hub will be able to see them to the gate and keep them company until boarding.
“This is one of the top five requests I get any time I give a speech,” said Christina Cassotis, chief executive of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which oversees PIT. “This is a very unique community in that you have a lot of meeters and greeters, people who drop off and pick up loved ones,” she told Bloomberg.
For Cassotis, the move signals “a return to the good old days” before 9/11, when anyone could show up with flowers to pick someone up from the gate.
But a lot has changed since the good old days. For one thing, security requires far more thorough screenings. And whereas PIT was built as a major hub for US Airways, it now operates as an “origin and destination airport,” where people begin and end their journeys but rarely transit through on connections.
PIT’s history as a former hub explains its vast proportions: a “Center Core” has more than 100 retailers including a Furla, Brooks Brothers, and Hugo Boss. There are also mini-museums—one from the Carnegie Science Center and one commemorating Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood—and a recently revamped kids’ zone, created in partnership with Carnegie and the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum. And the airport is home to more than 30 restaurants, ranging from fast-food and quick-service classics to, yes, restaurants by celebrity chefs such as Symon.
Until 9/11, the Pittsburgh airport was a popular hangout. “A lot of people remember when this airport was built 25 years ago, being able to come here on a Friday night for dinner,” Cassotis said. “It’s endearing, it’s genuine. People really like it.” But then TSA ratcheted up its standards; non-travelers were no longer welcome.
Locals would still come here for dinner if they could, claims Cassotis. And she has proof: Over the last three years, the airport has run open house nights once a month, each with a thousand attendees. “The shops and restaurants do well,” Cassotis said of the open houses. “Those days are very good for our bottom line.”
PIT’s expansive facilities are also what make this test program viable. In its heyday, in 2001, a prime year for PIT, the airport counted 9.9 million “emplanements,” that is, passengers boarding planes. In 2016, it clocked just 3.9 million—a decline of 61 percent. “An extra 1,000 people here doesn’t make it feel crowded,” said Cassotis.