Michael and Tiffany Davis were in a hurry as they got to the security checkpoint at Salt Lake City International Airport, pulling their children, Charlotte and Riley, with them in a wagon, on Wednesday.
That’s when they were directed to a specific lane toward the building’s windows. Transportation Security Administration agents dedicated this space for people traveling with young children. Weber County resident Casey Weaver and her family arrived moments later, and they experienced the same process.
“I like it. It makes it a lot smoother,” she said as she went through the line. “(There’s) less stress. It’s a lot more convenient.”
These lanes are part of a new TSA program called "Families on the Fly" that seeks to make it easier for families with young children to go through the security process. TSA began a soft launch at Salt Lake City International Airport in late July, but officially rolled out the new program on Wednesday.
Agents will spot families going through the main checkpoint and direct them to lanes 14 or 15, where they can go through the security screening process together. The agency also implemented “modified screening procedures” that reduce the likelihood of any pat-downs.
“This is a great thing for families,” said Dan Velez, a spokesman for the federal agency. “(Parents) are toting kids around, and they’ve got backpacks, strollers — it can be very stressful. They’re trying to get through as quickly as possible, so they’re not inconveniencing other passengers. So now, with these lanes, they don’t have to worry about that so much.”
Utah’s largest airport was selected as one of the first 11 airports nationwide to have this feature. That’s because Salt Lake City doesn’t have just a large passenger load — a figure that surpassed 28.3 million last year — it also has a large percentage of young passengers, given the number of families who live along the Wasatch Front, he explained.
Although its child population is dropping, a little more than a quarter of Utah’s population was under 18 in 2024, and the state’s percentage of children was still about 5 percentage points ahead of the national average.
The 10 other airports with the program were selected because they have high child volumes, too. These include Orlando International Airport in Florida and John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, which are close to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Park, respectively.
Early feedback has been positive, Velez said. He adds that having designated lanes should also help reduce waits at other lanes for passengers not traveling with children. Lessons learned in Salt Lake City and elsewhere will help shape what the program will look like as it’s eventually expanded to more airports.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the program earlier this year as part of wider changes to the TSA experience. Airport security also stopped requiring people to remove their shoes during the screening process, ending a measure that was implemented nearly two decades ago.
“Throughout this summer, we’ve been instituting what we’ve been calling ‘the golden age travel,’ and the family lanes are part of it,” Velez said. “There’ll be other things coming down the pipe, as well.”