TSA removes the shoes rule??

The claim is that modern scanning equipment is now able to detect potential hazards without requiring shoes to be removed. It’s interesting to note that the TSA is planning on maintaining its restrictions on liquids until 2040, despite screening technology being improved there as well. So the difference in how those two things are being handled is quite interesting.

From the onemileatatime link

One step at a time....

While you could imagine the TSA maybe hoping to fire people because they are not needed anymore, you also have to consider the big difference between terrorism and general crime: The public expects the rate of, say, car theft, to be reduced as much as possible. But they expect the incidence of terrorism to be reduced to ... zero.

We flew out of Amsterdam last year; the TSA equivalent asked us to just to lift our leg up to see what kind of shoes we were wearing; and then decided we didn't need to take them off. Then I remembered I had a water bottle in my bag right before it went on the belt. I went to grab it, but they said no worries, we have our ways. So it went with me. There's no figuring out what you will encounter in the US or elsewhere.

Last March I had to take off my new Ecco boots after passing through the body scanner. Apparently there is some metal in the heel [?] that the TSA operators didn't recognize. The boots had to be scanned separately like luggage. Going through security for our return flight I just took them off.

KD and musicmoll1, last year I was wearing ankle boots, and had to remove them at two different airports, one of which was Amsterdam. All boots had to be removed; shoes were okay.

I figured there had been some kind of incident or intelligence had been received about boots.

@Jane typically outside the US in most countries, the norm is that boots/high heeled shoes/footwear with metal should come off. Don't think it's due to new intelligence, as it has been around for a long time now . But most shoes (trainers/running shoes et al.) can stay on. Occasionally, London Gatwick had decided to require all shoes to come off for no reason, according to other travellers. But I haven't heard of this lately.

Thanks, jaydeshpande55. I don't usually wear boots when traveling, so I didn't know this. Other people seemed surprised as well, but they were probably as new to boot wearing travel as I was. I do plan to wear those same ankle boots on a trip this fall, so I'll be more prepared this time, perhaps not double tying the laces!

Occasionally, London Gatwick had decided to require all shoes to come off for no reason, according to other travellers. But I haven't heard of this lately.

Happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Flying out of Gatwick and everyone was asked to remove their shoes although one of my friends wasn't asked to. I've never had to remove my shoes at Gatwick so it seemed completely random.

I've been in airports where the TSA was yelling at people who didn't take their shoes off, and I've been in airports where they were yelling at people who DID take their shoes off. It's pretty arbitrary, and sometimes the TSA suggests that this is perhaps intentional to keep us off balance (pun intended).

Whenever I approach a security checkpoint I look for signs for guidance and just assume that I should expect the highest level of inconvenience, and then wait to see what happens. I believe the TSA is also rolling out newer X ray machines that allow you to keep almost all your stuff in your carryon, but again you should wait until you hear what the agents are yelling.

It seems this is all done very quietly, as I have not seen an
official announcement from the TSA

That's because there hasn't been one. Nor from Homeland Security. From CNN's article:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/travel/tsa-shoes-security-checkpoints

An internal memo announcing the change, which was first reported by
the blog Gate Access, was not officially confirmed by the TSA.

“TSA and DHS are always exploring new and innovative ways to enhance
the passenger experience and our strong security posture,” TSA public
affairs said in a statement. “Any potential updates to our security
process will be issued through official channels.”

Also:

The Transportation Security Administration will be phasing out the
security requirement...

So sounds to me like it's for real when the fat lady (DHS+TSA) sings. "Phasing out" also sounds like it's not going to happen everywhere at once. But on a similar subject? TSA told everyone in the security line at MSP last month that they could leave their electronics in their carryons due to new-and-improved scanners. Yay. The same wasn't true when flying home from LGA but maybe that improvement is being phased in to more ports.

@JC yeah, LGW is a weird one in that regard. I think their website says that "you may need to remove your shoes". Usually that implies that certain types of footwear should be taken off to be put through the X-ray machine, but I guess they could interpret it as a random move. But to my knowledge, they are one of the only airports in Europe that have actually gone that far.

Occasionally, I have seen times in the past where passengers are allowed to keep their shoes on while going through security if they deploy special K9 bomb sniffing dogs to search for potential threats within the queue prior to the checking area. I've seen this in BWI and ORD before.