Airport Security Rules on Baggage and Fences Lifted
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it has lifted two of the security restrictions imposed at the nation’s airports at the beginning of the Persian Gulf War, allowing a resumption of curbside baggage check-in and the removal of certain security fencing around parking areas.
At Los Angeles International Airport, spokesman Lee Nichols said United Airlines has already resumed curbside check-in, and other domestic airlines will do so in the next few days.
But, Nichols noted, the Bradley International Terminal has never had curbside check-in and will not have it now.
Curbside check-in is resuming at the Ontario airport, John Wayne Airport in Orange County and Lindbergh Field in San Diego. The Burbank airport resumed it earlier in the week.
At John Wayne Airport, spokeswoman Courtney Wiercioch said it may take awhile to take down security fencing around the parking structures, but the process is starting. No new fencing had been erected at the Los Angeles airport parking structures.
Wiercioch said the airlines are delighted at the resumption of curbside check-ins, a convenience that allows quicker baggage handling.
The FAA said it will continue to stop non-passengers at security screening points and will still bar them from boarding areas for the time being. Officials said, however, that they want to remove these restrictions as soon as possible.
Unattended automobiles at curbsides will continue to be subject to immediate towing at all airports.
FAA Administrator James B. Busey said: “The traveling public can be assured that security is our top priority and that domestic security is constantly reviewed and changed as circumstances warrant.”
Despite the adjustments, a Lindbergh spokesman said the airports generally remain at what is known as “contingency threat level four,” a high level of security that was imposed Jan. 16, the night the war began.
Aside from occasional bomb threats, no terrorist incidents were reported at the nation’s airports during the war.
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