Remember meeting family at the gate? Here’s why it ended.

Modern air travel comes with a well-established pre-flight routine.

A traveler typically checks in via the airline's app or at a station near the airport entrance, walks to security to present their ID, and drops their bag on the conveyor belt – removing certain items like laptops depending on the lane. Transportation Security Administration officers screen those while the flyer spreads their arms out mannequin-style inside a body scanner.

Once they’re allowed past security, they can browse shops, grab a bite to eat or head straight to their gate, where they eventually scan their boarding pass to get on their flight – typically passing a reinforced cockpit door on their way in.

Many of those steps flyers consider commonplace now weren't part of the travel experience 25 years ago. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, reshaped modern aviation's security infrastructure.

As the 25th anniversary approaches, here’s how much of the way Americans fly today can be traced back to that morning.

Flying before 9/11 "looked far different than it does today," according to Scott Keyes, founder of Going.

"Security was much more lax than it would soon become, with travelers able to breeze through and even non-passengers permitted to…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/money/