{"id":348109,"date":"2026-07-22T02:43:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T02:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348109\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T02:43:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T02:43:01","slug":"tampa-international-to-switch-to-private-security-screeners-under-tsa-gold-plus-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/348109\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa International to switch to private security screeners under TSA Gold Plus program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TAMPA, Fla. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\">WWSB<\/a>) &#8211; Tampa International Airport will transition to private security screeners under the TSA Gold Plus program next May, making it one of the first major airports in the country to adopt the expanded program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Under the TSA Gold Plus program, a private contractor will handle security screening at checkpoints while remaining under TSA oversight. The change means passengers will still go through the same screening policies and procedures currently in place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sarasota Bradenton International Airport has used private screeners since 2014. More than 5,000 travelers a day make the drive from Manatee and Sarasota counties to Tampa International.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/07\/20\/sarasota-neighbors-protest-proposed-72-unit-development-near-srq-airport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/07\/20\/sarasota-neighbors-protest-proposed-72-unit-development-near-srq-airport\/\">Sarasota neighbors protest proposed 72-unit development near SRQ Airport<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Josh Talkington, SRQ\u2019s director of communications, said the private screening model can help reduce staffing disruptions, particularly during a government shutdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe have had private security screeners here at SRQ for about a dozen years since 2014,\u201d Talkington said. \u201cASM is our private contractor company doing all the screenings at our checkpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Talkington said the contractor operates under TSA standards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThey are overseen by the checkpoints, they are trained by the TSA, they follow the same policies, the same procedures \u2014 everything that the TSA would do, our private contractor are doing it right here,\u201d Talkington said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Traveler John Wood said he has not noticed a difference in the screening experience at SRQ.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt goes very smoothly here,\u201d Wood said. \u201cEvery time I come here it\u2019s smooth, the lines work really well going in to get my flight, and coming out it\u2019s easy too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Tampa International\u2019s transition to the TSA Gold Plus program is expected in May.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Tampa International Airport will transition to private security screeners under the TSA Gold Plus&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[142476,33608,135,137,3210,136,142475],"class_list":["post-348109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ampa-international-airport","tag-sarasota-bradenton-international-airport","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-international-airport","tag-tampa-news","tag-tsa-gold-plus-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}