Those of us who have lived in Washington since 9/11 well know the various security changes that have occurred at Reagan National Airport over the last five years. When the airport re-opened a month later, aircraft containing more than 156 seats and the awesomely-named “River Visual” approach were banned until mid-2002. Oh, and remember when you couldn’t pick anyone up at the curb in a private vehicle? How about that no standing up on the plane 30 minutes after takeoff or before landing? Good times.

Slowly but surely though, the airport has made use of our species’ capacity for critical thinking and done away with most of these security measures that, from a layman’s point of view at least, served more to annoy and slow down travelers than to increase their safety. And today, lo and behold, yet another victory for thinking people at National airport. It’s almost like they’re making sensible decisions over there. Amazing.

Yes, beginning yesterday National Airport has opened a 34-space waiting area designed exclusively for people who come to pick-up passengers in their cars. You can pull in, wait to get a phone call from your friend/loved one/boss/what have you, then drive over to the curb and pick them up. No more being forced to circle the terminal everytime you’re chased away by TSA. There’s a 1 hour limit in this “Cell Phone Waiting Area,” and granted, it’s probably not big enough to accomodate everyone who’d like to use it at all times, but we’d be loathe to criticize such an obvious step in the right direction. Well done, National Airport. We salute you.