"New Security Rules Won't Save You Time on Ground"

Monday, December 5, 2005

Opinion
TAKING OFF AT THE AIRPORT
NEW SECURITY RULES WON'T SAVE YOU TIME ON GROUND
The Philadelphia (PA) Daily News


LAST WEEK the Transportation Security Administration announced new screening
procedures it hopes will confound terrorist skyjackers and suicide bombers.

We can almost guarantee the procedures will annoy and confound passengers
who are already experiencing long lines and confusion at the airports.
Whether the revamp will make passengers safer is anyone's guess.

Starting Dec. 22 - just in time for the Christmas travel rush - passengers
will once again be allowed to carry small scissors and other hand-held sharp
objects on board planes. Nearly a quarter of the 30 million prohibited
objects confiscated from passengers last year were scissors or small tools,
TSA officials say.

That was proving to be a waste of time now that sky marshals and other
enhanced security measures have been introduced on planes. So screeners will
spend more time looking for explosives.

That will require more random, and more intrusive, pat-down searches. Where
before screeners just checked torsos, they will now also pat down arms and
legs.

And in an effort to confuse terrorists, some days passengers will be
required to remove their shoes for inspection. Other days, not.

The new looser restrictions on tools and scissors have angered flight
attendants and their unions, which have been rightly lobbying for greater
scrutiny of cargo.

And Democrats in Washington are proposing legislation to keep scissors and
other sharp objects off planes.

But officials at Philadelphia International Airport are staying out of this
fight, saying they have no jurisdiction over security procedures set by TSA.

It's no secret, though, that lines at the airport have gotten longer.
Southwest Airlines, which in less than a year has become the airport's
second-largest carrier, has increased traffic at PIA.

Recently a fourth security-inspection station has been added at the popular
D terminal, where lines have literally been blocks long.

In fact, the airport intends to increase the number of security stations
serving both the D and E terminals from seven to 17 as part of a $45 million
construction plan.

Until then, get used to waiting in line.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************