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Few major glitches are reported across the nation as strict new rules to screen luggage on planes are implemented on Friday.
By BILL ADAIR, JEAN HELLER and STEVE HUETTEL
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 19, 2002
CHANTILLY, Va. -- "Schwarzenberg, party of four!"
It was Friday morning, just a few minutes before United Airlines Flight 1491 was scheduled to leave Washington Dulles International Airport, and the ticket agents had summoned the Schwarzenberg family to deliver some bad news. Their Tampa-bound flight was sold out.
Unfortunately, the Schwarzenbergs' luggage had already been loaded in the plane's belly. New nationwide bag-screening rules had just taken effect, and this glitch seemed to be a recipe for a long delay.
But United's smart planning paid off.
The airline had used a bomb detection machine to examine the luggage of the Schwarzenbergs and other standby passengers. That meant the bags could be left in the cargo hold even though the Schwarzenbergs had to catch a different plane. So Flight 1491 left just a few minutes late.
At Dulles, Tampa International and other airports around the nation, passengers encountered relatively few problems with the new bag-screening rules Friday. They heeded airlines' advice to show up early, and the airlines were able to keep most flights on time.
"It does not appear that the new rules have had much of an effect on the airlines' abilities to meet schedule," said Paul Turk, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Friday was the first day the airlines were required to "screen" all checked luggage. They are allowed to use a bomb detection machine, a bomb-sniffing dog, hand searches or a process known as bag matching, in which luggage is removed from a plane if a passenger does not board.
The airlines depended mostly on bag matching Friday because there are relatively few machines and trained dogs available, and hand searching is expensive and time-consuming.
Critics say the way the airlines are doing the bag matching -- they do it on the first leg of a passenger's trip but not on subsequent legs -- does little to improve safety because bombs can be rigged to explode on the later flights.
But transportation officials say bag matching can deter some types of terrorist attacks.
Some people in the aviation industry had predicted the heavy dependence on bag matching would cause flight delays. The process requires that airline employees wait until everyone has boarded a plane and then determine if anyone who has checked bags has not boarded. Baggage handlers then must root through the belly of the plane to retrieve that person's bag.
But visits to airports in Washington, Atlanta and Tampa on Friday found no serious delays.
During the Tampa airport's first seven hours of operations, virtually every scheduled flight left on time. There were scattered arrival delays, most in the 10-minute to 15-minute range. The longest was US Airways Flight 771 from Philadelphia, which was 30 minutes late.
During those seven hours, airport officials said they knew of no instances where departing planes were held up to remove the bags of no-show passengers.
"I got here four hours early for my (Southwest) flight because I was so sure it would be a frightful mess," said Jenny Harris, a nurse from Houston. "I jumped through all the security hoops, and I still had 31/2 hours to drink too much coffee."
TIA's lone explosive-detection machine operated at capacity, with lines of skycaps and airline personnel often backed up 10 and 12 deep waiting to unload carts full of luggage for scanning. But that still meant that about 95 percent of the Tampa airport's 40,000 bags were subjected to bag matching.
A few were hand-searched, but dogs played no role.
"Even if we had 15 bomb dogs, they couldn't handle even a fraction of what we see through here in a day," said Louis Miller, executive director of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. "Dogs wouldn't be efficient enough. They're good for spot checking bags, but not for assembly-line work."
Gate personnel for US Airways and Southwest Airlines at TIA said the day had gone smoothly across the board, in part because they have been practicing for several weeks to work out the kinks.
It is particularly important for Southwest, where the ability to turn flights around from arrival to departure in 20 minutes is a hallmark of service and a cornerstone of its financial success.
"We're doing everything we can to minimize any impact on customers and operations," said Christine Turneabe-Connelly, spokeswoman for Southwest. "The short turnarounds are vital to us, and there has been a lot of speculation about what the impact of the new security procedures will be. We've been speculating ourselves. But we're committed to this, and it looks like we're doing fine."
US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said he didn't think his airline's customers would notice any difference Friday, and without exception, those interviewed at TIA didn't.
"I won't say it will be smooth and seamless, but delays have been minimal," Castelveter said.
Yet "smooth" is exactly the way one passenger described it.
"Smooth as a baby's bottom," said Lewis Johnston, an accountant from Pittsburgh. "It's been no hassle at all."
The new security procedures didn't appear to cause major delays at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, Delta Air Lines' biggest hub, which handles more passengers than any other U.S. airport.
"It's been a transparent situation for our customers," said Delta spokeswoman Catherine Stengel. "We've been preparing for weeks and have seen a smooth transition."
Delta said 85 percent of its flights were on time Friday, which was "consistent" with recent performance.
Delta had asked passengers to check in earlier, which fouled up the vacation of Ron and Nancy Lyvers of Lexington, Ky.
Their flight was late arriving in Atlanta, so by the time they got to the gate for their connecting flight to Fort Lauderdale, Delta had given away their seats.
They couldn't get on three later flights, they said, and Delta couldn't find their bags. They were hoping to get on a Miami flight.
"We're victims of circumstances this weekend," Ron Lyvers said.
And their luggage?
"We have no idea, and (Delta agents) don't know where they are at this point, either," Nancy Lyvers said.
Friday's performance at Dulles showed that United was selectively using its bomb detection machine for certain bags to keep flights on time. Had the standby passengers' bags not been checked by the machine ahead of time, Flight 1419 would have faced a significant delay. Baggage handlers would have had to crawl into the belly of the big Boeing 757 and hope they could quickly find the Schwarzenbergs' bags.
But United's planning prevented that problem.
The Schwarzenbergs watched Flight 1419 depart -- with their bags inside -- and then dashed through the terminal to catch a flight to Chicago. They hoped to connect to a Tampa flight so they could catch up with their bags.
As the family went scurrying down the hall, a United manager complimented the ticket agents for keeping Flight 1419 close to schedule.
"Good job," he said. "You did your best."