Airports Expect Big Holiday Weekend

Attention Memorial Day travelers: This weekend is expected to be the busiest the nation’s airports have seen since the terrorist attacks.

Starting Friday, officials at Los Angeles International Airport and other facilities across the nation will begin bracing for what they predict will be a summer filled with elbow-to-elbow crowds.

Although passenger traffic at LAX is expected to be down by 15% this weekend compared with last year, officials urge travelers to allow more time than usual at the airport to check in for their flights and go through security.

Despite the smaller number of passengers, officials expect airport curbs, ticket counters and baggage-claim areas to be more crowded this summer because of new rules that don’t allow “meeters and greeters” past security checkpoints. In addition, many people will be flying for the first time since the September skyjackings and will be unaware of the new security procedures, slowing the entire system down.

The L.A. airport’s remote parking sites, lots B and C, are expected to fill up.

“This weekend is going to outdo Thanksgiving and Christmas,” said Paul Haney, an airport spokesman. “It’s a function of airline schedules being more robust, with more flights and more seats.”

Meanwhile, the sluggish economy, more than the aftereffects of the terrorist attacks, will prompt most Americans to drive rather than fly to their summer vacation destinations. About 76% of travelers this summer will rely on an automobile, said Carol Thorp, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Travel by all modes of transportation this summer is expected to be up 2% over last year, Thorp said, although trips by air are projected to be off 3% from the same period last year.

Even with the travel recovery, passenger traffic at LAX has not rebounded as quickly as at other major airports and even smaller ones in Southern California, such as John Wayne Airport and Burbank Airport--where loads are approaching last year’s levels. Passenger traffic at LAX from Memorial Day through Labor Day is expected to fall about 15%, from a record 20.5 million travelers last year to 17.4 million this summer.

Nonetheless, airport officials hope that several new services will ease overcrowding and help LAX overcome an image it has had difficulty shaking since the terrorist attacks: that it is less user-friendly than its smaller counterparts.

To combat long lines at security checkpoints, the federal Transportation Security Administration has added more lanes at Terminals No. 1, 4, 7 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

To help with queues at ticket counters, the airport’s major airlines have installed automated systems that allow passengers with electronic tickets to bypass long check-in lines by putting a credit card in the machine and following steps to check their bags and get boarding passes.

LAX also will inaugurate a new program this weekend that features “ambassadors” stationed at the facility’s terminals to assist passengers with directions and other questions. About 33 ambassadors sporting blue windbreakers, white visors and a gold badge that says, “LAX Ambassador. May I Help You?” will patrol the airport’s arrival and departure decks.

Ambassadors, who range in age from 18 to 75, have been training at terminals in two shifts, from 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Some have helped as many as 500 passengers during one shift, said Barbara Yamamoto, director of community relations for the city agency that operates LAX.

“For a lot of people, LAX is their first and last impression of Los Angeles, so we have to make sure it’s a good one,” she said.

The airport hopes eventually to have 80 ambassadors. The $500,000 program is scheduled to run through September, but could be extended if it proves popular, Yamamoto said. Ambassadors, many of whom are former airline employees, said they have fielded questions ranging from “Which bus goes to Van Nuys?” to “Where is Terminal No. 7?”

“There’s no job description for us, other than easing passengers’ travel,” said Cynthia Cory, a former Northwest Airlines employee.