{"id":102081,"date":"2025-12-20T02:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T02:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/102081\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T02:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T02:54:14","slug":"oakland-airport-now-offering-visitor-passes-through-security-east-bay-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/102081\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Airport now offering \u2018visitor passes\u2019 through security \u2013 East Bay Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tired of hugging your loved one goodbye outside of airport security? The Oakland airport has got you covered.<\/p>\n

Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport began offering visitor passes this week for guests who don\u2019t have a flight out but want to say hello or goodbye to a traveler at a gate. How it works: Apply online<\/a> up to seven days in advance of your loved one\u2019s flight, and if you\u2019re approved, show your visitor pass to a TSA agent when you go through security. You can apply the same day as a flight, too.<\/p>\n

Airports decide on an individual basis whether to offer these visitor passes, and Oakland announced it would do so on Monday, as travelers started preparing to flock to Bay Area airports<\/a> for the holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve got loved ones coming in or flying out, it gives you just a bit more time to spend with those individuals,\u201d said Craig Simon, the airport\u2019s director of aviation.<\/p>\n

Simon said the Oakland airport is the first in the Bay Area to roll out its visitor pass program, and one of the first in California. Nationally, visitor passes are available at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Detroit Metro Airport, Orlando International Airport and others. Pittsburgh International Airport piloted the program in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Travelers<\/p>\n

Travelers wait to board their flight at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A TSA agent gestures to travelers at a checkpoint screening station at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"Travelers<\/p>\n

Travelers wait in line to board their flight at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"Travelers<\/p>\n

Travelers go through a security checkpoint at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A traveler exits the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A TSA agent monitors a checkpoint screening station as a traveler is scanned at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"Travelers<\/p>\n

Travelers wait to board their flight at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

\"TSA<\/p>\n

TSA agents check travelers\u2019 luggage at a checkpoint screening station at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

Travelers wait to board their flight at the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport in Oakland, Calif., as the busy holiday travel season begins on Friday, Nov. 19, 2025. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

It hearkens back to the simpler era of air travel before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, when airport security was looser. Then, no one needed to apply for approval to go through security.<\/p>\n

Bay Area airports are sure to be slammed this holiday season. At the Oakland airport, Simon said the holiday rush starts today and will probably end Jan. 5. He estimated that 400,000 people will pass through the airport between now and then. Dec. 27 and Jan. 5 will be the busiest days, Simon said.<\/p>\n

His advice? \u201cGet here early,\u201d Simon said. He recommended that domestic travelers arrive two hours before their flight is scheduled for lift-off, and three hours prior for international travelers.<\/p>\n

Nationally, more than 40 million people are slated to depart from a U.S airport from Monday, Dec. 22 to Friday, Jan. 2, according to the travel analysis site Hopper. The site estimated that only one airport in California would make its top-10 list of the busiest airports this holiday season: Los Angeles International Airport. The top three busiest airports are expected to be those in Atlanta, Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth, Hopper estimated.<\/p>\n

About 5,700 U.S. flights were delayed on Friday, according to analysts at FlightAware. More than 1,000 flights had been canceled. FlightAware keeps a live map of delays and cancellations.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tired of hugging your loved one goodbye outside of airport security? The Oakland airport has got you covered.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,7,332,1533,181,100,143,145,18880,144,182,420,1967],"class_list":{"0":"post-102081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-east-bay","12":"tag-keywee","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-oakland","16":"tag-oakland-headlines","17":"tag-oakland-international-airport","18":"tag-oakland-news","19":"tag-pm-report","20":"tag-things-to-do","21":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}