A Big Hole at LAX

Tightened security has made flying into or out of Los Angeles International Airport more of a hassle than ever. This is the new reality, and travelers need to plan for it. Allow extra time. Pack patience. Yes, some measures may prove not just inconvenient but ineffective, as some critics already charge; count on the need for fine-tuning. But the first question to ask is not whether LAX has gone too far but whether it has gone far enough.

The Federal Aviation Administration last week shut down airports nationwide after hijackers crashed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Airports reopened only after meeting federal security guidelines that include banning curbside check-in and preventing unticketed people from passing through terminal gates.

What draws the most complaints, especially from airline and concession operators hurting for business, are LAX measures that go beyond what the FAA ordered and what other airports are doing. Aiming to head off car bombers and eliminate traffic jams that could keep emergency vehicles from getting through, LAX managers ordered short-term parking structures closed indefinitely and barred private cars. Passengers are dropped off or picked up at distant lots and shuttled by airport buses to and from terminals.

It’s a tiresome exercise for travelers used to being dropped at the curb. But all this is hardly an overreaction, at least until the FAA agrees to put in place such safety essentials as state-of-the-art scanners, federal standards for hiring and testing security workers, passenger prescreening, stronger cockpit doors and more armed “sky marshals,” something President Bush firmly promised Thursday evening.

The flaw in the LAX plan is what it doesn’t do--and what the FAA, astoundingly, does not require. LAX and most other airports do not make airline crews and ground workers who load baggage and service planes pass through security checkpoints and metal detectors. All most have to do is show airport identification, the kind that, along with airline uniforms, was found in luggage left behind by some of the hijackers.

Travelers will have to live with inconveniences. But if increasing security is the goal, airports can no longer allow ramp workers and airline employees--or someone impersonating them--unrestricted access to planes. LAX should not wait for a federal order.