Traveling by air this summer but hate the TSA security screening process? Well, you no longer have to take your shoes off at security checkpoints.
TSA checkpoints at airports across the country said goodbye to the shoes-off part of the screening process last year, but security might still make you remove your shoes if you set off an alarm.
Here are the shoes you should keep at home when traveling by air.
TSA shoes-off rule ended in July 2025
If you've flown in the past year, you may have noticed how TSA dropped its shoes-off rule, which was removed in July 2025. However, passengers who trigger the alarm at scanners or magnetometers will be required to remove their shoes for additional screening.
Previously, only passengers in the TSA PreCheck line were allowed to keep their shoes on.
Why was the no-shoes rule dropped?
According to USA Today, over the years fewer people were subject to the no-shoes rule.
The TSA PreCheck Trusted Traveler program, which began in 2013, offered many perks, including the ability to keep shoes on at checkpoints. As of August 2024, the program enrolled 20 million people, according to the agency.
Don't wear these shoes through TSA
If you want to get through TSA's checkpoints with your shoes on, you might want to consider the footwear you don to the airport.
Some shoes can trigger TSA's scanners and require you to remove them and put them in the machine. Here are some shoes you may want to leave at home, according to Travel + Leisure:
- Steel-toe shoes
- Shoes with buckles, metal eyelets and zippers
- Heels with metal rods
- Metal shanks
- Insoles and arch supports with metallic fibers
Why did TSA start the shoes-off rule at airport security?
TSA's "no-shoe" rule started in 2006 after a British man named Richard Reid boarded an American Airlines flight to Miami in December 2001 with explosives hidden in a shoe.
He did not detonate the explosive, and the plane landed in Boston after passengers and the flight crew held him down to prevent him from igniting an incendiary device. Experts revealed Reid's shoes contained enough explosives to blow a hole in the fuselage and crash the plane, according to the FBI.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Keep these shoes at home when you're going through TSA
