With This Airport’s New Remote TSA Checkpoint, You Can Go Straight to Your Gate
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – The Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport, unveiled the country’s first remote TSA checkpoint site, with ticket reservations opening yesterday and service starting on June 1.
During the three-month trial, passengers screened at the Framingham facility can ride a secure bus from the Boston suburb straight to their gate, bypassing the airport’s busy departures terminals and security lanes. If all goes well, airport and ground transportation authorities say the new Logan Airport Remote Terminal could become a permanent fixture and a model for other airports.
“This is all about making the travel experience more seamless and convenient by bringing air and ground transportation together and expanding the footprints of the biggest airports in the U.S.,” said David Sunde, co-founder and CEO of the Landline Company, which will oversee the buses. “It’s about reducing the stress and anxiety of going to the airport.”
Who can use the remote terminal and when
For now, the program is eligible only for passengers flying Delta or JetBlue between 5:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The 55-passenger buses will run hourly from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m.
To use the remote terminal, you must buy a $9 adult ticket (free for ages 17 and younger) on MassPort’s website. At the Framingham facility, ticketed passengers can now check their luggage at the airline counter (one for each carrier) and undergo screening at the TSA security checkpoint. They will then board a secure bus to the airport, which is 22 miles away or about 50 minutes without traffic. The bus will drive onto the airfield and drop off passengers on the air side of Terminal A (Delta) and C (JetBlue).
“All the functions you do at the airport, you’re just shifting that time to here,” said Peter Howe, MassPort’s deputy director of roadway management. “So when you get to Boston Logan, you’re going to be inside the terminal, within the gates, so you can go to the bathroom, get a drink and sit right down at your gate.”
Howe said the remote terminal is an especially good option for families who would otherwise have to navigate a much larger, possibly busier departures hall and screening area with a gaggle of children and bags in tow. It may also appeal to budget travelers who balk at paying $37 a day to park in Logan’s economy lot. The new terminal charges $7 a day for its 400 spots.
The micro-terminal, a new construction a half-mile from the Logan Express station, feels like the private wing of an airport with a small, bright waiting room on each side of the checkpoint, plus bathrooms and vending machines. The screening area has one lane that accepts standard and TSA PreCheck passengers, one CT-scanning machine and one metal detector. No liquids are permitted on the bus, so you will have to live without your morning Dunkin’.
“Even though you’re still in Framingham, the bus becomes part of the sterile side of the airport in Boston,” said Sheldon Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “You’ll be locked in a cocoon, but if anything compromises that cocoon, then the screening goes away.”
Timing your remote terminal experience
MassPort recommends passengers arrive at least 45 minutes before the bus departs, so they don’t miss the checked baggage or screening window (45 and 35 minutes, respectively). Reservations are available 90 days to 90 minutes in advance.
People who do not enjoy counting backward or lingering too long at the gate will appreciate a booking feature that suggests the best bus departure time for your flight. For a Delta flight leaving for Detroit at 9:05 a.m., the site recommends a 7 a.m. bus for a gate wait time of roughly 50 minutes.
Jacobson questions whether the terminal is more efficient.
“My initial reaction to this is why? I don’t see any gain in terms of efficiency,” he said. “If you make TSA PreCheck free for everybody, you will have a very efficient, effective and secure air system.”
Of course, it depends on your starting point. The remote terminal makes more sense if you live or are staying near the Framingham terminal. (According to MassPort, the Logan Express in Framingham is the busiest station in the airport shuttle network, which transported 2.7 million passengers last year.) Conversely, if the drive adds another stressful step to your travel day, it might be best to go directly to the airport.
The buses will travel the same route as other airport-bound vehicles, contending with morning rush hour traffic. Sunde said only about 1 percent of buses break down. In the event of an emergency, Landline, which built its business on transporting connecting passengers between regional and international airports in Philadelphia and Chicago, will transfer passengers to a replacement vehicle. They will not have to recheck their bags, but they will have to go through the screening process again.
But not everyone is convinced this off-site option is an upgrade for consumers.
“I don’t know why they’re doing this, except they think there’s too much congestion at Logan,” Jacobson said. “But there are other ways this could be done, so I remain cautiously skeptical.”
Several major airports offer an alternative to the standard TSA security experience. However, these options often reside on the airport’s premises and cater to higher-end travelers.
At JFK International in New York and Los Angeles International airports, Delta One business-class fliers file through a private screening area connected to the Delta One lounge. PS operates “private” security at LAX and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, charging from $1,295 per person for the exclusive experience.
“In general, programs like [TSA’s Reimbursable Screening Services Program] support innovative passenger processing outside traditional screening checkpoints while maintaining TSA oversight and security standards,” said Katie Chaumont, a spokesperson for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. She added that PS, which will open a facility next month at the airport’s Corporate Aviation center, can provide “the company’s clients with streamlined security screening as part of their paid experience.”
If Boston Logan’s trial proves successful, Howe said MassPort and its partners could expand the hours, numbers of participating airlines and locations in the Boston region.
Sunde is casting his eye beyond the Bay State to other sites popular with the flying public, such as Disney World.
(c) 2026, The Washington Post · Andrea Sachs
