Thanksgiving holiday travel: LAX mostly business as usual

If only every day were the day before Thanksgiving. That was the prevalent sentiment as of 10 a.m. Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport. Never, it seems, have there been so many people to answer travelers’ questions. Never, it seems, have there been lines this short at the American Airlines terminal.

What’s all the fuss? Remember the hype over Y2K? That’s what this was starting to feel like as LAX approached midday. The only apparent choke-point was at the WestJet counter, of all places, where the Canadian airline’s staff apparently didn’t get the memo that the airport was on full alert for one of the busiest travel days of the year. At 10 a.m., nearly 100 people waited patiently for a spot at the ticket counter.

Elsewhere, it was business as usual -- often far better than usual. At two key barometers for LAX aggravation -- American Airlines (Terminal 4) and Southwest Airlines (Terminal 1) -- there were no lines to acquire boarding passes or check luggage. Adjacent security checkpoints were flowing smoothly as well.

At Southwest checkpoints, passengers were stepping into line and grabbing trays. A full-body scanner, the source of much angst and a threatened protest, was not being used there, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration said. At American, all checkpoints were open and moving smoothly. Waits were estimated at 15 minutes.

LAX will be tested later in the day, when a crush of incoming passengers arrives in the busy 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. period. But there are fewer worries about arriving passengers because they generally don’t require security clearances.

Meanwhile, about two dozen activists were on hand to protest the new full-body scanners being used at some checkpoints. Paul Best of Los Angeles was among them, passing out brochures alerting travelers to alleged dangers of the scanners Wednesday morning at LAX.

“Remember, you have the right to opt out for a pat down,” the brochures said. Among the risks it cited: “Backscatter X-ray machines use ionizing radiation, a cumulative, known health hazard, for imaging. Children, pregnant women and those with defective DNA repair mutations are considered to be especially susceptible to DNA damage.”

Best says his group met over the Internet and decided to turn out Wednesday. By 10 a.m., many of them had left.

“My issue isn’t so much the safety issue,” Best said. “It’s the privacy issue. So many of the changes we’re seeing don’t even go through Congress. They come through some agency, and I think that’s wrong. I don’t think people should be scared into giving away their personal liberties.”

Best said he found most people supportive Wednesday at LAX, including what he considered a surprising number of airport law enforcement personnel and luggage handlers. The brochure touted several websites offering additional information, including wewontfly.com, dontscan.us and nudeoscope.org. For the TSA’s take on the new security procedures, which it says are safe, effective and protect privacy, check out “Pistole: Why we need TSA’s security measures.”

To see what travelers and others are saying about their LAX experiences, check out “LAX security Twitter chatter.” And for tweets from myself and colleague Clare Abreu from LAX, check out the Travel Twitter feed, which appears on the Travel homepage and Travel Blog landing page.