Nearly 3.5 million holiday travelers are expected to board planes this Thanksgiving weekend. Many dread the long lines and invasive procedures of security checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration hopes to improve their experience - it's considering devices that would let passengers keep their shoes on through security checks.

Air travelers have only recently mastered the art of sliding out of coats, pulling out laptops and posing for an x-ray photoshoot in a full-body scanner. But a change to U.S. security procedures could come soon. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said recently that passengers will get to keep their shoes on in the near future.

"That would definitely be convenient," says traveler Brian Wolfe, as he unlaces his ankle-length suede boots at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport.

The TSA is considering devices that would save Wolfe the trouble, but still detect threats. Shoes became a concern in 2001, when would-be terrorist Richard Reid made it onto a Miami-bound flight with explosives in his sneakers.