LAX Needs Better Evacution Plans

My family and I happened to be among the passengers delayed at LAX by the mock grenade in the luggage (March 5). After spending well over an hour motionless on the upper level sidewalk with no information at all, we were suddenly commanded by barking policemen that we must move to the lower level of Terminal 1 as soon as possible so that the object could be removed. Many passengers had large numbers of bags on carts and were funneled into just two elevators. The escalator was not working and people who went down that way had to roll and drag their bags down the steps.

Virtually no one from the airlines or the airport security was making any effort to help the passengers or direct them where to go. An older woman who asked for a wheelchair was told basically to forget it. Occasionally, a policeman would come in and shout out some instructions, inaudible to most, through cupped hands. When the scare was over, the same chaos was repeated in reverse.

If this is to be a regular event at LAX (as it seems to have become), the authorities should develop plans to provide better information and help to passengers, with personnel posted at stairways and elevators, directing people and providing assistance to the elderly. Also, perhaps they can figure out some way to make use of the PA system!

Robert Ziff

Ann Arbor, Mich.