It’s hard to believe that 9/11 was 25 years ago today. On that day, September 11, 2001, I was a young journalist working at CNN headquarters, producing the noon newscast, when I saw the first, and then the second, plane crash into the World Trade Center in real time on the newsroom monitor.
In an instant, everything about air travel in America changed. And 9/11 has informed the way we have traveled ever since. Gone are the days when anybody could say goodbye to loved ones at the gate. (Although that restriction has recently begun to ease; more on that below.) Also gone, for the most part: the ability to run late and still make your flight in under half an hour.
Here are a few examples of what is different between then and now.
TSA airport security checks
While there were security checks before September 11, 2001, they were nothing in comparison to the invasive TSA screening checkpoints we have today. Those screenings are a direct result of the formation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was created in November 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks.
Back then, there were no required Real IDs, no full-body screenings or mandatory metal detectors with enhanced screening technology, no need to show your ID before security, and certainly no invasive privacy measures such as facial scans employing facial recognition software.
Beyond just taking off our shoes or having to scan the contents of our carry-ons, those of us who remember long for the days when we could show up late to the gate, drink in hand, and board with relative ease.
Originally, the TSA was housed under the Department of Transportation (DOT), whose focus under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (signed by then-President George Bush two months after the attacks) was to perform uniform, restrictive screening, and institute a federal takeover of airport security from private companies.
But in 2003, the agency moved to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Starting in 2011 with the launch of TSA PreCheck, TSA created a system that critics now argue over-screens the general public, treating every passenger as a threat instead of focusing on high-risk individuals. From body scans that employ advanced imaging technologies to restricting liquids, aerosols, and gels, airport security measures have made traveling a long, exhausting process. TSA screened 900 million people at airports in just 2025 alone.
In fact, today’s TSA’s Secure Flight program’s security measures “begin long before you arrive at the airport.” Most travelers are probably unaware that TSA screens passenger information, cross-listing it with intelligence and federal government watch lists—for both travel outside the U.S. but also within—before you even hit security.
Boarding passes
A boarding pass is now required to get to the gate. It wasn’t always. After the September 11 attacks, printed boarding passes became mandatory requirements to pass through security. By 2010, mobile boarding passes accessible from smartphones became standard.
However, this post-9/11 restriction is now starting to ease. In a welcome change for many, TSA is instituting TSA Gateside, which will ease restrictions on those who want to see off friends and family at the gate. As Fast Company previously reported, PreCheck members at select airports can now go to the gates to meet flights, even if they aren’t flying themselves.
Longer lines, even at TSA PreCheck
Since 9/11, airport wait times have occasionally averaged one to three hours at certain hubs, per NPR.
And according to a 2025 New York Times article, TSA PreCheck, which was created to cut down on the long lines formed by post-9/11 security checkpoints, doesn’t actually speed up travel by much. Reporters looked into travel at New York airports, and found PreCheck at John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark airports only saved travelers about five to 10 minutes on average.
What travel restrictions have eased since 9/11?
Passengers have welcomed the end of the shoe removal rule, which, while not a direct result of 9/11, was also instituted around the same time.
Also expediting the security process: Some busy mothers now can access new dedicated lanes for families, as can veterans, at select airports.