Fear and Flying

Los Angeles International Airport, Southern California’s universal crossroads, still trembles in the shadow of Sept. 11. Flights have been canceled, commerce squelched, jobs slashed, terrorist scares endured. And individuals have faced their fears--of flying and of forces they cannot control.

Three months into this new era, equilibrium emerges for a day or two at the giant airport, then dissolves again.

Spilled nondairy creamer can still close down a terminal for hours. A foil gum wrapper sends an X-ray machine chirping madly. And LAX’s biggest carrier, United Airlines, has eliminated 40% of its flights.

The mood beneath the landmark Theme Building and along the endless concourses has changed. Consider travelers’ reading tastes: On Sept. 10, Tom Clancy, Candace Bushnell and Stephen Ambrose dominated the airport’s best-seller list. Last week, “Middle East,” “Taliban” and “Jihad vs. McWorld” were three of the five most popular choices at LAX.

Other choices at airport shops reflect the more sober sensibility, as well. Sustenance items such as bottled water and candy bars are still moving. But fine chocolates and $100 cognac tend to sit on the shelves. And although cabbies find fares slowly building, business for limousine drivers has dipped more than 60%.

Yet those determined to fly have found a few unexpected rewards: Crime at the airport has dropped by more than three-quarters, planes are far more likely to run on time, and fellow travelers are more apt to commiserate, or even lend a hand.

The changing world of LAX is refracted most dramatically through the eyes of the nearly 40,000 people who work there.

It’s a world where a flight attendant negotiates holy water away from a Mideastern passenger and an Afghan American pilot must reassure his colleagues that he’s reliable. It’s a time where a catering company supervisor dreads every flight canceled, because he will have to lay off 10 more workers. It’s a place where cab drivers find themselves stuck too often in a holding pen, waiting for fares, and where LAPD bomb squad officers have more business than they want--and crowds to cheer them on.

A special report inside today’s California section tells the stories of LAX and 11 of its workers. The profiles accompany a statistical comparison that reveals how Southern California’s crossroads has entered a new day.