Parking, Screening Changes Due at Airports

Beginning today, the federal government will open parking lots at the country’s biggest airports that have been off-limits since Sept. 11 because of worries about car bombs.

Officials also will change the way air travelers are screened after they pass through security checkpoints over the next few weeks, checking them only at randomly selected gates, Transportation Security Administration spokesman Robert Johnson said.

“We’re trying to avoid screening Grandma two or three times as she makes her way home for the holidays,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the prohibition on unattended vehicles parking within 300 feet of a terminal will be dropped today as long as the terrorist threat level is at code yellow, or “elevated,” the middle of a five-point scale of risk developed after the terrorist attacks.

Transportation agency chief James Loy was scheduled to announce the change at an airport security conference co-sponsored by the Airports Council International-North America and the American Assn. of Airport Executives.

The so-called 300-foot rule will be reimposed if the threat level rises to orange or red, Johnson said.

Airports, though, will have to draw up plans outlining how they would deal with the threat of an explosion. They won’t have to close the parking areas during an elevated threat if their plans don’t call for that, Johnson said.

New layers of security allow the rules to be eased, Johnson said, listing a better-trained screener work force, federal air marshals, background checks of people who work beyond airport security checkpoints and screening of checked baggage at 252 airports.

Todd Hauptli, an airport lobbyist, said the airports have pushed the TSA hard to let them reopen their close-in parking lots. “This has been a thorn in the side of many airports,” Hauptli said, and the rule brought no significant improvement in security.

Like the parking restrictions, screening passengers just before they board their plane was on a “stupid rule” list that Loy drew up. He promised to look at the list and try more common-sense approaches.