TF Green Airport adds family friendly security lanes to improve travel
A Day in the Life of the Airport
The Providence Journal got unprecedented access to often-hidden areas in 2008 to see what goes on at T.F. Green Airport.
- The program provides dedicated security lanes for families, aiming to expedite the screening process.
- The TSA also plans to offer families discounts on TSA PreCheck fees.
- These changes are part of a broader effort to improve the efficiency and pleasantness of air travel.
What does Warwick have in common with Orlando, Honolulu, Charlotte and Jacksonville? They are all home to airports that are now considered “family friendly,” thanks to their participation in a new TSA initiative, “Families on the Fly.”
T.F. Green International Airport, Rhode Island’s sole public, commercial, international airport, furnishes somewhere between 18,000 and 21,000 departing flights per month according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It is the smallest of the airports listed as participating in a Transportation Security Administration initiative that creates a separate security screening lane for families to get parents with kids through faster and with less stress.
“When families come to Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport (PVD) and enter one of our TSA security checkpoints, they will have a dedicated lane specific to them,” TSA Federal Security Director for Rhode Island Daniel Burche said in a press release. “I’m pleased we now have the added ability to streamline their screening process and make the airport experience more enjoyable.”
When the campaign was first announced in July, only two airports had implemented the new family lanes, specifically, Orlando International and Charlotte-Douglas International. Since then, the TSA has been rolling the campaign out at other select airports across the country, including John Wayne Orange County Airport, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Jacksonville International, Will Rogers International Airport and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. Green joined the initiative on Aug. 20 and, most recently, Tampa International Airport became involved on Aug. 26.
Neither the press releases nor the TSA website seem to address what groups of passengers would be considered a “family,” and therefore eligible to use these expedited lanes, although TSA representatives discussing the Tampa International and Orlando International programs mention the initiative as being designed for families with children ages 12 and younger, who have to deal with strollers and diaper bags while going through airport security screenings.
In addition to the new lanes, the TSA is planning to offer families $15 off TSA PreCheck fees.
This initiative is just one of multiple changes announced for the TSA this summer as a part of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s stated desire to ease TSA regulations and make the air travel experience more “pleasant” and “efficient,” with hopes to usher in a new “Golden Age of American Travel.” In July, Noem and her department announced an end to the “Shoes-Off” policy that has been a TSA checkpoint stable since 2006, along with limits on the amount of liquids allowed in carry-on baggage. That, too, may be phased out, according to Noem.
Announced in July alongside the “Families on the Fly” initiative was a similar program for military service members and their families, called “Serve with Honor, Travel with Ease,” that gives military families $25 off TSA PreCheck fees and waives those fees entirely for families who have lost a loved one in military service, also called “Gold Star” families.
These changes to the TSA have all been announced at a time when the organization lacks an official administrator at the helm. The previous administrator, David Pekoske, served in the position from 2017 to January 2025, when he was forced out of the role by President Donald Trump. Currently serving in his stead as acting administrator is Deputy Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, who was appointed as deputy in April 2025 after working in the private sector, specifically as the president of BigBear.AI.
In a May 2025 statement at a House Oversight Hearing, McNeill said the upcoming 2026 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics give the United States an opportunity to “boldly transform and modernize” its travel network, seemingly through eased regulation and increased reliance on private industry, such as the technology companies that administer the TSA’s PreCheck program: CLEAR, IDEMIA and Telos. On Aug. 19, the TSA announced the installation of “eGates,” a CLEAR-led program that lets the TSA compare traveler biometrics with their identity documents and boarding passes using AI. Though not available at T.F. Green, eGates have already debuted at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and the TSA is expecting to add them to Ronald Reagan National Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport by the end of August.
link
