An older woman in a red jacket sits in an airport terminal looking at her phone, her carry-on beside her.

Flying Home for the Holidays: What Changed at the Airport, and What’s Still Your Right

Byjosephdavidenterprises

Nothing here is sponsored, and there are no affiliate links. Airline, TSA and Department of Transportation rules change, sometimes with little notice. Check TSA.gov, the DOT and your airline before you fly. This is general information, not legal advice.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year, TSA screened 3,133,924 people, the most it has ever screened in a single day.

If you’re flying to see family this year, you may be part of the next record. And if your last few trips left you swearing you’d drive next time, I understand.

But the airport has changed in the past year and a half, some of it in your favor. And some of your rights have been there all along, unused by many of the people they were written for.

An older woman in a red jacket sits in an airport terminal looking at her phone, her carry-on beside her.
A little planning now makes Thanksgiving week a lot calmer.

“It’s not worth the hassle anymore”

This is the objection I hear most, and it deserves a straight answer.

The hassle is real. The long concourse. Standing in line on a bad knee. Not quite hearing the gate announcement. The fear of being the one holding everybody up at security.

For some trips, driving is the right call. But before you give up on flying, know what’s different now, and what you can ask for. A lot of the hassle is optional.

Change one: your shoes can stay on

On July 8, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security ended the routine requirement to take your shoes off at TSA checkpoints, after nearly two decades. Officers can still ask someone to remove them for extra screening, but for most travelers, they stay on.

If you’re 75 or older, TSA already modified screening for you. In many cases you can keep a light jacket on too, and officers can offer a seat, help with bins and private screening if you ask. Tell the officer your age at the ID check.

An older couple rides a moving walkway through a bright airport concourse under a large clock.
The airport changed in the past year and a half, some of it in your favor.

Change two: the wrong ID now costs $45

This one catches people. REAL ID is now enforced at airport checkpoints. Since February 1, 2026, if you show up without a REAL ID or another accepted ID, you can pay $45 for TSA’s ConfirmID process, which covers a 10-day travel period. TSA warns that travelers going through it should expect delays.

The fix is simple. Look at your driver’s license for the star in the upper corner. If it isn’t there, bring your passport. A passport or passport card is accepted and costs you nothing extra at the checkpoint. If you’ll need the $45 route anyway, TSA urges you to pay online before your trip.

A hand holds a passport and boarding pass while travelers with rolling bags pass in a terminal.
No star on your license? Bring your passport and skip the $45.

Your right to help, curb to gate

Here is the one too few people use, and I wish more would.

Under the federal Air Carrier Access Act, airlines must help passengers with disabilities get from the terminal entrance or drop-off point all the way to the gate, and on arrival, to baggage claim or the pickup curb. If you ask, they’ll stop at a restroom on the way when it’s along the route. They must provide help promptly, and federal rules bar airlines from charging for the services the rule requires.

You don’t need to use a wheelchair at home to qualify. DOT says you self-identify; you don’t need a doctor’s note. If your knees, hips, balance, breathing or heart make a long walk a risk, that’s what this is for.

How to ask: tell the airline when you book, or call the accessibility line on your reservation now. Confirm it at check-in. If something goes wrong, airlines must make a Complaints Resolution Official available to you, at no cost, in person or by phone.

I know the objection: “That’s for people who really need it.” Here’s another way to see it. A wheelchair to the gate isn’t giving up. It’s saving your legs for the grandkids.

An attendant pushes a traveler in a wheelchair along a waterfront walkway at sunset.
Free help from the curb to the gate is a right, not a favor.

A wheelchair to the gate isn’t giving up. It’s saving your legs for the grandkids.

If your flight is canceled

Holiday weather and crowded schedules mean cancellations. Know this before you’re standing at the gate.

Under DOT’s 2024 refund rule, if your flight is canceled or significantly changed (departing at least 3 hours early or arriving at least 3 hours late on a domestic flight, 6 hours on an international one) and you decline the rebooking or travel credit, the airline owes you a refund to your original form of payment. It’s supposed to be automatic: within seven business days for a credit card, 20 days for other payments.

Two cautions. If you accept the rebooked flight or a voucher, you generally give up the cash refund. Decide what you want before you say yes. And DOT has said it won’t enforce cash refunds when an airline merely changes a flight’s number and rebooks you on it with no significant change, a pause it extended in July 2026 for another year while it works on a new definition of a canceled flight. The core refund right stands, but the edges are moving.

If you need to call the airline, get the number from your confirmation email or the airline’s app, never from a search result. Fake airline “customer service” numbers are an old scam with a new AI twist, as we covered in AI After 60 and Hang Up, Call Back. And if the trip is expensive or far from home, the travel insurance questions in The Policy You Buy and Hope Never to Read apply here too.

Is PreCheck worth it? My pick

You have three realistic choices for getting through security faster.

My pick: Global Entry, if you have a passport and might leave the country even once in the next five years. It costs $120 for five years and includes TSA PreCheck, plus a faster line through customs coming home. It does require an in-person interview.

Second: TSA PreCheck alone, if you fly at least once or twice a year and won’t travel abroad. A new five-year enrollment runs roughly $77 to $85, depending on the enrollment provider, with cheaper online renewals.

Third: nothing. If you fly once every few years, the standard lane may be fine, especially now.

The strongest argument against my pick, left standing: now that everyone keeps their shoes on, and anyone 75 or older already gets modified screening, the gap between PreCheck and the regular lane is smaller than it used to be. PreCheck isn’t guaranteed on every trip, either. If you fly rarely, $77 to $120 may buy you very little, and skipping it is a perfectly sound choice.

Thanksgiving week, practically

Avoid the Sunday after Thanksgiving if you can. That’s when last year’s record fell. Flying earlier in the week, or on the holiday itself, is often calmer. That’s my advice, not a TSA forecast.

Book the assistance when you book the seat. Not at the curb.

Pack your medicines, glasses, hearing aid batteries and chargers in your carry-on, with a day’s spare. Checked bags get delayed at the worst times.

Give yourself more time than you think. Holiday crowds, the ID check, the long walk. Rushing is how people fall.

Choose your connection on purpose. If you have a choice, a nonstop is worth paying a little more for. If you must connect, a longer layover beats a tight one, and you can ask for assistance between gates on the connection too.

Keep a short list on paper. Your confirmation number, the airline’s phone number from your confirmation email, and the name and number of whoever is picking you up. Phones die at the worst moment.

An older man sits by the window of an airplane, settled in for the flight.
Window seat, medicines in the carry-on, and nothing left to chance.

What to do this week

  1. Check your license for the REAL ID star. No star? Put your passport with your boarding pass.
  2. Request assistance now if a long walk worries you. Call the airline’s accessibility line or add it to your reservation.
  3. Decide on PreCheck or Global Entry this week if you want it before a holiday trip. Approval and interviews take time.
  4. Save the airline’s number from your confirmation email into your phone.
  5. Pack medicines and essentials in your carry-on, plus one spare day’s worth.
  6. If you’re 75 or older, tell the TSA officer at the ID check.

The trip to see the people you love is worth some planning. The airport isn’t the obstacle course it was, and you’re allowed to ask for help getting through it. Then go get your hug at the arrivals curb.

Go be bold!

Flying for Thanksgiving? Reply and tell me the one airport moment that worries you most. The long walk, the security line, the connection, the ID. I’ll answer the most common ones before the holiday.

Sources

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