Charleston’s airport is still waiting on TSA’s no-ticket gate pass after a short-lived expansion

Charleston International Airport is still not part of a Transportation Security Administration program that lets PreCheck members go past security without a boarding pass, weeks after the agency said the airport would be added.

TSA announced the launch of Gateside by TSA PreCheck at 13 airports in early September. The free program lets eligible PreCheck members apply one to three days ahead to visit the secure side of a terminal, whether to meet family at the gate or to eat and shop beyond the checkpoint, according to TSA. Each participating airport sets a daily limit on passes, the agency says.

Airport officials said they had told TSA they were interested in joining, ABC News 4 reported Sept. 11. Spencer Pryor, the airport’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, told the station that qualifying visitors “can get to enjoy it, whether it’s the restaurant there, whether it’s seeing off a loved one.”

TSA said in September that Charleston would be among the next airports added, and a spokesperson said more airports, including CHS, would be added in October, The Post and Courier reported Oct. 26. TSA never made that announcement, the newspaper reported.

Instead, TSA expanded Gateside to hundreds more airports in October, then scaled it back within days without explaining why, according to The Post and Courier. Norfolk International Airport in Virginia told CNN it learned the program was no longer available there after people complained they could not apply for passes, the newspaper reported.

As of Oct. 29, TSA’s website listed 13 airports, including Dallas Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and said the agency is adding airports “in a phased approach.” Charleston officials said they had not had an update from TSA, The Post and Courier reported.

The Post and Courier called it the second TSA initiative to be walked back in recent months. The airport had planned to join TSA Gold+, which would have let a private contractor screen passengers, before TSA replaced it in August with an updated version of an existing screening partnership program. CEO Elliott Summey has said the airport has not signed anything to take part in that program, the newspaper reported.