Queues moving faster at airports

Gun-packing pilots. Flights canceled because of terrorist jitters. Stepped-up scrutiny of foreign visitors.

Air security has made for nerve-racking headlines lately. But here’s the day-to-day reality: For the typical traveler running the security gantlet at U.S. airports, little has changed in the last year. If anything, the process has become easier, observers and frequent travelers say.

You may still languish in a security line or two during busy times, especially at major hub airports such as LAX, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and O’Hare in Chicago. But the hours-long delays that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks seem to have passed.

During the recent holidays, the security system passed a big test, surprising skeptics. Despite a high (orange) nationwide security alert declared before Christmas and the most traffic in two years, passengers waited, on average, less than 10 minutes to get through security checkpoints at most airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

“It’s getting a little more efficient,” David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Assn., a passenger advocacy group, said of the security process. “People are getting to know their jobs better…. There’s more uniformity.”

Terry Trippler, air traveler advocate for the Internet site https://www.cheapseats.com , agreed. “The TSA is much better organized,” he said. “Things are working much better than any of us thought they would.”

But Trippler, a frequent critic of the airlines, attributed much of the improvement to passengers. “The biggest change, without a doubt, is the air traveler, who is much more educated, much more cooperative,” he said.

After more than two years of stepped-up security, savvy passengers often arrive at checkpoints, belts and shoes in hand, with no forbidden items in their carry-ons — or at least fewer of them. With fewer secondary searches, lines move faster.

Not every flier is clued-in or well-intentioned, of course. The TSA found more than 6 million prohibited items at screening checkpoints last year, including nearly 2 million knives, officials say. And some rules remain confusing. (See the box on Page L3.) But overall, passengers seem to be adapting.

Here are some recent changes in everyday security practices and policies:

• Boarding passes: More than 70% of the nation’s 429 airports now require a boarding pass before you go through security checkpoints in some or all of their terminals. At these airports, which include LAX, Long Beach and Bob Hope (formerly Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena), e-ticket receipts, itineraries and vouchers are no longer acceptable, the TSA said.

The number of boarding-pass-only airports is rapidly growing, up from fewer than 60 in January 2003. Rather than guess which location requires a boarding pass, it’s wise just to get one. You’ll save yourself time if you print out your pass from a self-service kiosk in the airport or your computer at home or work. More and more airlines offer one or both options. Log on to their Internet sites to learn more.

The change in boarding-pass requirements is part of the TSA’s drive to concentrate security at the checkpoints and reduce random screening at airline gates, which, Stempler said, “really annoyed people.” It should, at any rate, speed the lines.

• A second chance: At some airports, including areas of LAX, you may be allowed to walk through metal detectors a second time if you set off beepers instead of being sent to a secondary screening point, said Nico Melendez, TSA spokesman in Los Angeles. The agency began phasing in this time-saving measure before Christmas.

• Shoes: Before entering a checkpoint, “you’re not required to take off your shoes,” Melendez said, “but you’re highly encouraged to.” That’s the gist of a policy the TSA issued last summer. Many shoes contain steel shanks or thick soles, which can set off the metal detectors and trigger a secondary screening.

The TSA issued the policy because some checkpoints were requiring shoes to be removed and some not. Shoes have been subjected to special scrutiny for more than two years, ever since Richard Reid, the Al Qaeda “shoe bomber,” was arrested for trying to blow up a Paris-to-Miami flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

• Nationwide alerts: These have added more layers to security strictures. During the latest orange alert, declared just before Christmas and lifted Jan. 9, LAX banned curbside drop-offs and pickups and began random searches of vehicles at airport entrances. An orange alert indicates a “high risk of terrorist attacks,” the government says.

Here was the situation at some local airports at the Travel section’s deadline Tuesday:

LAX has restored curbside drop-offs and pickups. But like a few other airports in the nation, it has retained some extra security measures, such as randomly searching vehicles.

• At Bob Hope in Burbank, vehicles entering parking structures or using valet services have been routinely searched since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, said spokesman Victor Gill. Random searches on airport roadways were added during the orange alert, then discontinued.

• John Wayne Airport in Orange County closed some roadways during the alert, then reopened them Jan. 10.

• Long Beach performed random vehicle searches during the alert. It has stopped but still cordons off some parking spaces, a spokeswoman said.

• Ontario airport performed random vehicle inspections during the orange alert but no longer does, a spokeswoman said.

• Each airport has different security needs and responds differently to alerts, the TSA’s Melendez said. Don’t expect to know all the details on what each does.

“We don’t want to provide a road map … [in case] someone wants to game the system” to threaten air traffic, he said.

When it comes to security, it’s no longer true that if you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen them all, as jaded travelers used to say. Now it’s “If you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen one airport,” Melendez said.

The moral: Arrive at least two hours before domestic departures and three hours before international ones. Add an extra half-hour or more during security alerts.

Meanwhile, the biggest change on the horizon is the computer-assisted passenger prescreening system. Designed by the TSA to reduce secondary screenings and misidentifications, it would require passengers to provide date of birth and other data for checking against private and government databases.

The TSA plans to test the system this winter and spring and implement it for the busy summer season. But the plan has already drawn protests from privacy advocates, passengers and airlines concerned about customer backlash and lawsuits. Whatever happens, travelers will no doubt fly through the storm. After more than two years of turbulence, they have proved they can.

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What not to take

As a broad rule, you can’t take anything into a passenger cabin that could be used as a weapon. The rules for checked baggage are more liberal, although explosive or flammable items generally are forbidden anywhere on the plane. For a list of forbidden and permitted items, visit https://www.tsatraveltips.us . Some trouble spots:

• Scissors: Metal ones with pointed tips can’t be carried on, but ones with plastic or metal blunt tips are allowed. Don’t forget to scour grooming and sewing kits for scissors.

• Swiss Army-type knives: Knives are forbidden in carry-ons. Exceptions are round-bladed, butter and plastic cutlery.

• Razor-type blades: Box cutters, utility knives and razors that aren’t in a cartridge are forbidden in carry-ons but allowed in checked bags. Safety razors can go in either.

• Knitting needles: These are permitted in carry-on or checked bags, the Transportation Security Administration says on its website. Then it adds: “However, there is a possibility that the needles can be perceived as a possible weapon by the TSA screener.”

• Sports equipment: You can’t carry on baseball bats, hockey sticks, ski poles or “any other equipment determined by the screener to be dangerous, such as ice skates,” according to the TSA.

— Jane Engle