My mother hasn’t been on a plane in many years, and picked the recent holiday weekend to get back in the game. (Well, it wasn’t exactly her choice; she went to one day of a conference where they were announcing a new fellowship in my late father’s honor, #Proud.) I gave her two pieces of advice ahead of time: first, “Don’t be a target,” to which she responded, “What does that mean?” and I thought, “Oh crap.” And the second tip was to wear socks the whole time, even if she’s wearing sandals (which she always is). Like Michelle Williams, I firmly believe bare feet on planes is a big no-no. It’s icky for others, and it’s icky for yourself! (Incidentally, my mother recounted in horror how another passenger spent the flight in flip flops and very short shorts.) I’d also never want to be barefoot in the security line, for that stretch when you have to put your shoes in the bin. Except the Transportation Security Administration has got me there, cause the TSA is now binning the shoe removal policy — in some airports — after 20 years:

A memo detailing the new policy of allowing all passengers to keep their shoes on in all screening lanes in some national airports was reportedly sent out to TSA officers last week, per ABC News. However, if they trigger the scanner, passengers would be required to take off their shoes for additional screening.

The airports that have already started implementing these changes include Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Portland International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina, according to CBS News.

Passengers at Los Angeles International Airport and New York City’s LaGuardia Airport also appeared to have not been asked to take off their shoes in the general screening lines on Monday, July 7, according to CBS News.

The TSA did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on its screening policies regarding shoes.

A spokesperson for the agency told the Times in a statement: “T.S.A. and D.H.S. are always exploring new and innovative ways to enhance the passenger experience and our strong security posture. Any potential updates to our security process will be issued through official channels.”

Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who broke the news on his travel newsletter, Gate Access, told the Times that the change is “overdue” and was likely due to evolving technology, which can detect threats more easily.

“They should feel relieved knowing that technology has advanced so significantly that T.S.A. officers can detect threats while wearing shoes,” he told the outlet in a statement. “In the old days, this wasn’t the case.”

Previously only those who had TSA pre-check — which cost about $80 to enroll — were allowed to keep their shoes on, along with their belts and jackets in screening lanes. In order to obtain TSA pre-check, passengers have to go through a clearance process with the Transportation Security Administration.

The TSA began requiring passengers who were getting screened to take off their shoes after a man named Richard Reid implanted explosives in his shoes while planning to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, according to the outlets.

[From People]

“They should feel relieved knowing that technology has advanced so significantly that T.S.A. officers can detect threats while wearing shoes.” Attention passengers: we will now be making a slight detour into sentence structure. Once again, I cannot hide my inner grammar nerd! It’s just tickling me no end that former TSA officer and current TSA blogger Caleb Harmon-Marshall composed his sentence in a way that makes it sound like it was the officers who previously had to go shoeless for the sake of security. But at long last we have the technology for them to keep their shoes on while they work! Syntax aside, I applaud Harmon-Marshall for the enthusiasm with which he shares his insider knowledge. Upon reading his post, I learned something that People Mag didn’t mention: TSA is likely to make REAL ID-compliant identification (so, NOT Costco) a requirement for enjoying shoe privileges. I still haven’t gotten mine yet (I know, I KNOW), but I do have pre-check. Plus it appears that TSA agents have already moved seamlessly from barking at fliers to take off their shoes, to barking at us to keep them on. Shoes or no shoes, at least we’ll still have the confrontational tension.

Cindy Crawford and Khloe Kardashian are shown in photos from LAX in 2018 and 2016, credit: Backgrid. Other photo credit Connor Danylenko on Pexels