THREAT FROM THE UNABOMBER : Few Alter Flights, but Number May Rise Over Holiday

The Unabomber scare at Los Angeles International Airport prompted only a modest number of flight re-bookings Wednesday, but travel industry officials expect that number to increase as the busy Fourth of July holiday approaches.

“Every hour brings more activity,” said Thom Nulty, president of Associated Travel in Santa Ana. “We’re seeing a lot of customers with concern. We’ve had quite a few fly to an alternate airport, but we’ve also had people say, the heck with it, and fly into LAX.”

American Airlines and United Airlines, the largest carrier in California, dropped the $50 re-booking fee for California flights. Other carriers were expected to do the same.

Corporate travel directors throughout California said they were reviewing company travel policies in light of the bomb threat. A person whom authorities believe is the serial bomber, known as the Unabomber, first threatened to blow up an airliner from LAX within the next five days and then, in a later letter, described the threat as a hoax designed to get the public’s attention.

Before the second letter became public, Unocal, the Los Angeles-based oil company, sent employees an e-mail message saying they may choose not to travel until the threat is over. The policy is similar to what Unocal put in place during the 1991 Gulf War.

Some within the travel industry worried that fear resulting from the bomb threat could set back a fledgling recovery in the ailing airline industry.

Even with the original threat, relatively few passengers appeared to be changing their travel plans Wednesday. Angela Cranon, a spokeswoman for Burbank Airport, said that one carrier at the suburban airport, Alaskan Airlines, had 10 additional passengers on each of its seven flights, the result of re-bookings from LAX.

A regional carrier, Skywest, reported two extra passengers on its 19-seat airliners, Cranon said.

“Things have gone very smoothly, there has not been a rash of people,” she said. “Thursday, Friday and Saturday, of course, could be different.”

People flying internationally have fewer options if they want to avoid LAX. Associated Travel’s Nulty said he re-booked a Tokyo-bound client to depart from San Francisco instead of Los Angeles. The client got to San Francisco by flying from John Wayne Airport in Costa Mesa.

“It can be done, but you have to be creative,” Nulty said.

Travel executives said consumers may find it harder to switch flights in the coming days. Many flights from the Los Angeles Basin are near-booked, meaning customers wanting to avoid LAX may have few options.

“We’re going to try to accommodate passengers and meet their needs, but it won’t be possible if the flight is already sold out,” said Joe Hopkins, a spokesman for United.