Air travel just got a little easier for members of the military with the expansion of Transportation Security Administration checkpoints.
In a press conference at the Nashville International Airport on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the new Honor Lane, along with other perks for military families and veterans.
The express security lane allows uniformed military members to have a dedicated security line for expedited processing.
The Honor Lane is currently available at 11 airports across the country and first opened at the Nashville Airport last month, Noem said, with plans to expand the expedited service to even more airports nationwide.
"What that honor lane does is it implements a new policy that we're going to be putting across the country at all TSA security check lanes that honors our military men and women," she said.
The "Serve With Honor, Travel With Ease" initiative "will be utilized with airports starting with those that are closest to our military installations," she added.
DHS will also now support Gold Star families -- families of those who died during active-duty military service -- by allowing them to apply for TSA pre-check free of charge.
Additionally, all military spouses can now receive a $25 pre-check enrollment discount. Noem said DHS will be deploying mobile enrollment units to military bases across the country to avoid forcing military members and spouses to travel to an airport to sign up for the benefits.
"These tokens of gratitude are just a small amount of what we can do in this country to honor those who serve in our military, but also them and their families, and recognize their sacrifice," Noem said.
The new benefits are officially in effect nationwide, and Noem encouraged military members and families to take advantage of them.
