"San Jose, Calif., airport tightens checkpoint"

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

San Jose, Calif., airport tightens checkpoint
The San Jose (CA) Mercury News


To fly these days is to endure long security lines. So what's one more?

That's how most travelers seemed to take the new rules just put into
place at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. From now on,
passengers must have a boarding pass before they pass through the
security checkpoints -- which means people carrying only a ticket will
be turned away. There is also a separate line for passengers chosen for
extra security checks.

The changes are part of nationwide security measures mandated by the
Transportation Security Administration, which will already be familiar
to many passengers.

"All the airports in the Bay Area have already been doing this for about
a year," said Nico Melendez, spokesman for the Transportation Security
Administration. "Three hundred and fifty airports nationwide are already
doing this. We are just bringing San Jose in line." Here's how it works:
Each boarding pass will be punched at the security checkpoints.

Passengers with boarding passes that have not been punched will not be
allowed to get on an airplane, said airport spokesman Rich Dressler.

"We have a lot of people on hand at the airport now approaching people
in line to let them know they must have a boarding pass," he said.

Passengers without a boarding pass will have to go to an airline kiosk,
now relocated to the lobby, or the ticket counter to get one.

The new process began Saturday in Terminal C and Tuesday in Terminal A.
It also means people selected for additional security searches -- in
which passengers must open carry-on bags and perform the ritual
semi-striptease, removing belts and shoes -- will be examined at the
checkpoints, not the gates.

Passengers will now know ahead of time if they will be subjected to the
extra searches: Their boarding passes will be marked with four capital
S's in the lower right corner if airport agents plan to give them a
special look.

In addition, boarding passes for Southwest Airlines flights will include
a checkerboard sign if the passenger is selected for additional
searches. These passengers will be directed to a different line.

The searches will still be mostly random. But passengers who buy their
tickets with cash or purchase one-way tickets are subject to extra
security checks.

For the most part, passengers lining up at the security checkpoints at
San Jose's Terminal A Tuesday afternoon took the changes in stride,
particularly seasoned travelers who long ago became compliant to the
post-Sept. 11 airport cattle calls.

A few seemed slightly bewildered. Some wandered into the wrong line,
only to be gently prodded in the right direction.

But there were no groans or loud complaints. "I wasn't even aware of
it," said Nitin Khurana, an Applied Materials director of technology
lining up for an American Airlines flight. "The lines aren't too bad."
Scott Seamons, an Applied Materials marketing executive also filing
through security, said he believed the change could actually ease the
most stressful aspect of the airport security gauntlet: traveling with
children.

"It's stressful enough with your kids," he said. "If they let you know
in advance, you can prepare for it."


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