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Vintage photos show what airport security was like before 9/11

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Airport security in the 1970s. Airport security in the 1970s.

Vintage photos show what airport security was like before 9/11

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Airport security in the 1970s. Airport security in the 1970s. Duane Howell/Denver Post via Getty Images Airport security used to be far more relaxed with fewer screenings and restrictions. People didn't need plane tickets to get through security, and knives were allowed on flights. The Transportation Security Administration wasn't established until after 9/11.
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Airport security in the 1970s. Airport security in the 1970s.

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Airport security in the 1970s.
Airport security in the 1970s.
Airport security in the 1970s.

Duane Howell/Denver Post via Getty Images

  • Airport security used to be far more relaxed with fewer screenings and restrictions.
  • People didn't need plane tickets to get through security, and knives were allowed on flights.
  • The Transportation Security Administration wasn't established until after 9/11.

Before 9/11, airport security was far more relaxed than it is today.

Friends and family could accompany travelers through security without a boarding pass. Knives and blades were allowed in carry-on bags as long as they were smaller than 4 inches. Private companies, not the government-run Transportation Security Administration, handled screenings.

Airport security did evolve over the decades in response to bombings — like the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 — as well as hijackings and other threats. X-ray machines and metal detectors slowly became familiar features, but the experience was vastly different compared to modern air travel.

In the aftermath of September 11, airport security transformed almost overnight. These vintage photos show how travelers once navigated a system that now seems unrecognizable.

Before 9/11, checked luggage was not subject to universal explosives screening.
Passengers checking in luggage in 1955.
Passengers checking in luggage in 1955.
The conveyor belt took baggage to the bus docks at New York's East Side Airlines Terminal.

Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images

X-ray baggage screenings weren't introduced until the 1950s.
One of the first suitcase X-rays from the 1950s.
One of the first suitcase X-rays from the 1950s.
Early airport security X-ray. One of the first X- rays ever taken of the interior of a suitcase, using X-ray surveillance at an airport. Two hand guns have been exposed, with a grenade tucked into the shoe at lower left. This late 1950s image was taken at an airport in the United Kingdom. X-ray fluoroscopy was the process, used by a security device manufactured by Pantak. X-ray checks have since become more sophisticated, but are still only as efficient as the guards analysing these X- rays. In this case the grenade could easily be mistaken for a sock in the shoe, and a gun seen from end on is much harder to recognise.No use: BBC, Pearson, Oxford University Press, Springer Nature, Dorling Kindersley, Cambridge University Press & Assessment, New Scientist, Bonnier Publications, John Wiley & Sons, The Lancet, BMJ

Science Photo Library via Reuters Connect

Signs warned passengers from bringing weapons and explosives, but screenings were lax by today's standards.
An airport security sign in 1970.
An airport security sign in 1970.
Airport officials view are introduced to new signage warning passengers of penalties for making false statements regarding hijacking or carrying weapons aboard an aircraft, 1970.

Federal Aviation Administration/PhotoQuest/Getty Images

More stringent security checks at John F. Kennedy Airport in 1970 caught weapons such as guns, daggers, and hand grenades.
Weapons confiscated from passengers at John F. Kennedy Airport in 1970.
Weapons confiscated from passengers at John F. Kennedy Airport in 1970.
Jan. 1, 1970 - When President Nixon called for the death penalty for sky jackers, this pictured may have helped to influence him. It was taken in the Marshall's office in Brooklyn, New York and represents the results of one week's frisking of passengers passing through Kennedy Airport. Automatics, daggers, ammunition, even a hand greanade all were discovered by the stringent security checks at Kennedy in a seven day period. All the guns were later tested by ballistic experts to find if they had been used in recent times. Then the haul was destroyed.

Keystone Press Agency/ZUMA Press Wire

In 1973, the FAA mandated the use of magnetometers and X-ray machines to screen passengers and carry-ons on commercial flights.
A magnetometer at Stapleton International Airport in 1972.
A magnetometer at Stapleton International Airport in 1972.
DEC 20 1972; A guard watches as passengers and visitors file through one of the "magnetometer" tunnels at Stapleton International Airport. System, begun Tuesday, is to prevent hijackings.

The Denver Post via Getty Images

Full-body scanners wouldn't arrive until 2007.
Airport security in 1987.
Airport security in 1987.
2/21/1987, DEC 22 1987; Stapleton Airport "Security" United Airline Pilots going thru security early Monday morning.

John Prieto/Denver Post via Getty Images

Many airports had kiosks with life insurance vending machines geared toward nervous flyers.
Passengers could buy travel insurance at the airport.
Passengers could buy travel insurance at the airport.
Passengers could buy travel insurance at the airport.

Don Cravens/Getty Images

Before 9/11, people who weren't flying could obtain gate passes and access the gate area.
Airport Security Officer Checking Carry-on Luggage
Airport Security Officer Checking Carry-on Luggage
An airport security officer checking carry-on luggage in 1980.

Jacques M. Chenet/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

There were also no restrictions on bringing liquids or gels in carry-on bags back then.
Airport security at Stapleton International Airport in Denver.
Airport security at Stapleton International Airport in Denver.
JUL 15 1973, JUL 16 1973, JUL 17 1973; Passengers on "B" concourse at Stapleton International Airport Pvt hand luggage through new machine installed by Unites Airlines.; (Photo By

John Beard/Denver Post via Getty Images

The first security lines at San Francisco International Airport formed in 1973, with an express line for passengers with no carry-ons.
The first security lines at San Francisco International Airport.
The first security lines at San Francisco International Airport.
Feb. 20, 1973: The first security lines at San Francisco International Airport, where passengers were searched after years of minimal security at the airport.

Clem Albers/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Separate lines for TSA PreCheck and CLEAR didn't exist yet.
Security at Denver International Airport in 1995.
Security at Denver International Airport in 1995.
Security at Denver International Airport in 1995.

Brooks Kraft/Sygma via Getty Images

There was no TSA at all — private contractors screened passengers until the federal government took over airport security in 2002.
Security at San Francisco International Airport in 1973.
Security at San Francisco International Airport in 1973.
Feb. 20, 1973: Guards used walkie-talkies to communicate and sticks to inspect bags at the first security lines at San Francisco International Airport.

Clem Albers/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

The computer monitors used for automated explosives detection systems were much clunkier than they are today.
Automated explosives detection systems at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Automated explosives detection systems at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Automated explosives detection systems at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Willie Anderson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

The knives and box cutters that the hijackers used on 9/11 were legal to bring on planes at the time. After that day, flying was never the same.
Hijackers Mohammed Atta (right) and Abdulaziz Alomari went through airport security.
Hijackers Mohammed Atta (right) and Abdulaziz Alomari went through airport security.
394718 01: A Surveillance Camera Photographs Two Men Identified By Authorities As Suspected Hijackers Mohammed Atta (R) And Abdulaziz Alomari (C) As They Pass Through Airport Security September 11, 2001 At Portland International Jetport In Maine. Authorities Say The Two Men Took A Commuter Flight To Boston Before Boarding American Airlines Flight 11, Which Was One Of Four Jetliners Hijacked On September 11 And One Of Two Which Were Crashed Into New York City's World Trade Center.

US Navy/Getty Images

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