TSA relaxes rules on airport screening for travelers 75 and older By Mary Forgione Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger March 15, 2012, 12:06 p.m. Travelers 75 years old and older will be allowed to leave their shoes and a lightweight jacket on when they pass through airport screenings at four U.S. airports starting Monday, the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday. It's part of a pilot program that also allows older passengers to pass through metal detectors or body scanners more than once to resolve security issues if an alarm goes off. "We know people in that population and age group pose a lower risk to security," TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers says. We're trying to reduce the number of pat-downs. Dankers says the shift is part of the TSA's promise to move away from one-size-fits-all security screenings to a model that focuses on high-risk travelers. However, Dankers says, this doesn't mean older passengers are exempt from pat-downs or extra screening. The pilot screening program next week will begin at airports in Chicago (O'Hare International Airport), Denver, Portland and Orlando. Not all checkpoints at those airports will have a line for older passengers, and finding one that does may not be the closest one to a passenger's departure gate. Dankers says signs will be up to designate the appropriate checkpoints. So how do TSA officers know who's 75 and who isn't? "We're not going to card people," Dankers says. Officers will make a visual assessment on who qualifies for the relaxed screening. The move comes after several high-profile incidents late last year in which older women at JFK International Airport in New York say they were "strip-searched" by TSA officers. Lenore Zimmerman, 85, of Long Island, N.Y., who wears a heart defibrillator, complained after she requested a pat-down but was instead escorted to a room away from the screening area and asked to remove some of her clothes. The TSA denied that she was strip-searched but did apologize for the "unpleasant screening." Airline passengers old or young who have a disability or medical condition and want to know how to resolve potential screening problems should call TSA Cares at (855) 787-2227 or email TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov about 72 hours before going to the airport. Also, travelers who feel they are being mistreated at a TSA checkpoint may ask to speak with a supervisor or manager.