"Security Checkpoint at Las Vegas Airport Helps Screen Southwest Fliers Faster"

Wednesday, September 3, 2003

Security Checkpoint at Las Vegas Airport Helps Screen Southwest Fliers
Faster
The Las Vegas (NV) Review-Journal


With apologies to Nicolas Cage, Sheryl Crow and hordes of actual travelers
who endured delays flying out of McCarran International Airport this Labor
Day weekend, leaving Las Vegas can be much easier than many now realize.

For nearly two months, the Transportation Security Administration has
operated a small, two-lane screening checkpoint at McCarran to help process
those flying on Southwest Airlines, which is by far the airport's busiest
carrier this year with nearly 33 percent of an airport total 20.9 million
departing and arriving passengers through July.

Known as the C-gates checkpoint annex, getting to the site from Southwest's
first-floor ticketing counter would require a healthy adult to walk outside
the terminal for less than three minutes, or about the same amount of time
it takes to travel upstairs and down two corridors to reach McCarran's
traditional C-gates checkpoint.

Delays at the busier, older checkpoint routinely stretch to about 60 minutes
during peak periods. Meanwhile, the annex often remains virtually empty.
Despite the added convenience of two additional gates, however, airport
officials remain baffled that many travelers continue to avoid the annex and
instead wait in longer lines at the main checkpoint station.

"We're able to staff one or two lanes at the annex and we'd love for there
to be enough (travelers) to keep both of those lanes open at all times," TSA
regional spokeswoman Suzanne Luber said. "Unfortunately, it's still a
frequent travelers' secret that is not used as often as it could be."

Though she could not provide hard counts for comparison, Luber said only a
small percentage of the C-gates' estimated 535,000 July departing passenger
total passed through the annex during the month. 

San Antonio resident Lee Major, who used the annex for the first time late
Tuesday morning after he was tipped off by an airport skycap, compared his
experiences there to the days before today's heightened airport security
restrictions and so-called "hassle factor" became common at U.S. airports.

"This is like the old days; easy access and no hassle," Major said of the
annex. "I don't mind taking a little walk for this."

On his way home to Los Angeles, traveler Dan Meyers also praised the new
gateway for its shorter lines.

"We'll use it again," Meyers said.

Other travelers, however, said they had no idea a shortcut was available.

"You kind of expect an airport to have lines," said Southwest passenger
Richard Barney of Laguna Beach, Calif. "And at airports, a helpful tip is
the exception rather than the rule."

Like Luber, McCarran spokeswoman Debbie Millett described the annex as a
well-kept secret that should be made known to more travelers. She said some
passengers may be avoiding the annex because it's new and unfamiliar, though
she hopes that will change over time.

Southwest spokeswoman Angela Vargo added airline employees already encourage
passengers to use both checkpoints to avoid delays, though she believes many
travelers have been reluctant to walk outside during the Las Vegas summer.

"The weather has been a factor, but once it cools down we think people will
be more likely to go outside," Vargo said.


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