"Bag sizers on X-ray machines to be removed"

Thursday, May 23, 2002

Bag sizers on X-ray machines to be removed
By Donna Rosato
USA TODAY


A government plan to speed up airport security lines might lead to delays at
airport gates, some airlines say.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to remove the metal
plates that many airlines installed at the front of airport X-ray machines
several years ago to keep fliers from bringing aboard oversize carry-on
luggage. Airlines hoped that by identifying those bags early at the security
checkpoints - instead of minutes before departure at the gates - they could
prevent late takeoffs. Bags that didn't fit inside the templates went to
cargo holds.

The TSA says the templates slow security screening. It took over supervision
of airport security this year and is scheduled to assume full responsibility
for screening in November.

For now, it has asked airports and airlines not to use the bag sizers. The
TSA says only a few airports are still using the metal plates, and it will
have all the templates removed by November.

"This change will make a lot of people happier, because they won't have to
worry about whether their bag will make it through security," says Chris
McGinnis, a travel correspondent for CNN Headline News. "But it will
probably mean more people at the gate checking bags, and that could affect
departure times."

The change comes as airlines say they're trying to reduce airport waiting
times for passengers in anticipation of increasing delays this summer.

"The templates are there for a reason. We want to make sure people aren't
carrying on bags that are too big, and the templates give us a way to manage
that," says United Airlines spokesman Joe Hopkins.

United, which led industry efforts to install the metal templates in 1998,
wrote the TSA last month to urge keeping the templates. The airline says it
has seen a significant improvement in customer service and safety since it
installed the templates at 35 of the 127 airports where it operates.
Injuries from passenger carry-on bags falling out of overhead bins dropped
to 164 last year from 457 in 1997, and boarding delays due to cabin-checked
bags are down 40% over the same period, Hopkins says.

The Association of Flight Attendants predicts more injuries as a result of
the new policy. It wrote a letter to the TSA Monday asking it to keep the
templates.

At least one airline is glad to see them go:

"We've been opposed to the templates all along. We don't think they're
customer friendly, and our aircraft have larger bins to accommodate big
bags," says Continental spokeswoman Julie King.

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