TSA ends 'shoes off' policy, MSP Airport passengers mixed on decision

TSA ends 'shoes off' policy, MSP passengers mixed on decision

The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced an end to a nearly 20-year-old policy that required passengers to remove their shoes while going through airport security checkpoints.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced an end to a nearly 20-year-old policy that required passengers to remove their shoes while going through airport security checkpoints. 

TSA ends requirement to remove shoes

What we know:

Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Tuesday announced the end of the "shoes-off" policy at all airports nationwide, effective immediately.

Noem said security technology and procedures have evolved over the last two decades, rendering the requirement unnecessary. She said some passengers may still be asked to remove their shoes, but that would be on a case-by-case basis. 

"Passengers will still pass through multiple layers of screening. They’ll also go through identity verification," she said. "And in fact, TSA has recently experienced some fantastic success with implementing REAL ID."

The backstory:

The policy was implemented in 2006 as a response to Richard Reid’s attempted shoe bombing of a transatlantic flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.

Reid was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

MSP Airport passengers have mixed reactions to new policy

What they're saying:

"I think there was a safety reason for doing it in the first place, and now they’re saying that we apparently don’t have a risk with people carrying possible explosives in their shoes and I don’t see how they arrived at that conclusion," said Phyllis Karasov of Mendota Heights. 

Others disagreed, arguing the policy was always an overreach and lasted too long. 

"I think after a couple of years they could’ve done away with it," said Jim Johnson of Prior Lake. "It makes it a lot easier with the kids – a lot easier."