Security hassles deter many frequent fliers By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY By now, regular air travelers know the drill. Creep through serpentine=20 security lines. Dump laptops, cell phones, the tiniest metal bits of=20 anything onto the X-ray machine belt. Bite your lip as guards thumb through= =20 your wallet or dig into your neatly packed undies. Hop around in stocking=20 feet for the shoe inspection. Get frisked. Though it is the price that=20 travelers pay for peace of mind in the age of terrorism, some say the=20 security line hokeypokey has become so onerous that they're skipping trips= =20 whenever they can =97 to the detriment of the nation's beleaguered airlines.= =20 "They've gone overboard," says Richard Boyd of Beverly Hills, Calif., a=20 200,000-mile-a-year flier who got the full security work over =97 shoe check= =20 included =97 three times on the same one-way trip. "I am looking at how I= can=20 avoid future air travel," he adds. This kind of talk, coming from their=20 best customers, worries airlines. A road warrior rebellion would cut into=20 revenue when the industry is attempting to pull itself out of a year of=20 severe losses. So airlines are pressuring the government to try to smooth the way for=20 these preferred customers =97 whether it is with special, exclusive lines=20 into the checkpoints or with a personal identification card that could help= =20 them navigate security faster. "The industry and the government have got to work closely together to take= =20 the waiting and the hassle out of the current situation or ... travelers,=20 especially short-haul, are going to find other ways to get to their=20 destination," says American Airlines spokesman John Hotard. The job of=20 making checkpoints more efficient and less obtrusive falls to the new=20 Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which took control of airport= =20 security last month. Among other things, it has brought in consultants to=20 study checkpoints at 15 airports. Executive experts borrowed from companies= =20 such as Walt Disney and Marriott are studying how to make standing in line= =20 more interesting and checkpoints more traveler-friendly. Their best ideas=20 are going into a new checkpoint at Baltimore/Washington International. It=20 will feature special bins for putting laptop computers through X-ray=20 machines and electronic signs that flash messages. For those fed up with their checkpoint hassles, relief can't come soon=20 enough. "Travel has become a real hassle. It never was exactly fun, but now= =20 it is a chore," says Michael Shore of Cumming, Ga., who flies 150,000 air=20 miles a year. "I am beginning to seriously consider driving to those=20 locations that are less than five to six hours away." Some travelers=20 already are. Horizon Air, the commuter affiliate of Alaska Airlines, cites= =20 the airport hassle as the reason ticket sales are down 10% on its busiest=20 route, the Seattle-Portland, Ore., shuttle. The airline believes more=20 would-be passengers are driving three hours between the two cities instead= =20 of hopping aboard one of Horizon's 30 flights each way. Horizon has=20 responded by creating an exclusive security line for passengers using the=20 shuttle and tripling frequent-flier miles awarded for the route to 1,500=20 each way. Although airlines generally cut capacity by 15% to 20% after the Sept. 11=20 terrorist attacks, they reserved some of the biggest cuts for the routes=20 that are easiest to drive. American's daily flight schedule on the 172-mile= =20 run from New York's Kennedy to Providence was cut 75% in the past year. The= =20 88 mile-run from Orlando to Tampa on Delta is off 67%, and the 229-mile=20 flight from Albany to Rochester, N.Y., on US Airways is down 61%. When it=20 comes to the New York-Washington-Boston shuttle market, technology=20 executive Greg Pesik concluded that "the Acela Amtrak train to New York is= =20 a better alternative" than flying. The high-speed train, which connects New York with Boston and Washington,=20 was running behind ridership projections until October. Now, it's running=20 4% ahead. While Amtrak has no direct evidence that the airport experience=20 explains that increase, "We have to assume that's had some impact," says=20 Amtrak spokeswoman Karen Dunn. Fliers support extra security Despite air travel hassles, the public remains solidly behind enhanced=20 airport security, recent polls show. Only 8% of those surveyed Feb. 24-26=20 in a CBS News poll said they aren't willing to put up with long delays or=20 more intrusive searches for the sake of safer flying. Only 4% said airport= =20 security workers are overzealous in searching passengers, compared with=20 half who think the searches are about right and a third who say they don't= =20 go far enough. The findings are in line with another survey from a=20 marketing research firm specializing in travel habits. Yesawich Pepperdine= =20 & Brown found the number of business travelers citing airport hassles as a= =20 reason for cutting back on travel was minuscule. The hassle factor loomed=20 larger as an issue for leisure travelers, CEO Peter Yesawich explains. But= =20 neither poll takes into full account the impact of the handful of=20 passengers who make up the bulk of airline revenue =97 the high-mileage=20 travelers who fly every week, sometimes several times a week. At the height= =20 of the airline boom a couple years ago, American Airlines estimated that 2%= =20 of its fliers accounted for 25% of its revenue. Airlines tried to placate them by dedicating a security checkpoint at the=20 busiest airports for their exclusive use. The TSA rejected that but now=20 allows airlines to let elite frequent fliers stand in a priority line=20 feeding into checkpoints open to all passengers. Special lines are important to frequent fliers because they not only cut=20 the time spent waiting for the checkpoint but reduce the unpredictability=20 of how long the wait will be. United Airlines' Web site lists 39 domestic=20 airports where travelers departing during the busiest times of the day=20 should be prepared to wait 40 minutes or more to clear security. Delta's=20 site lists the estimated the wait time in a security line during peak hours= =20 at 15 minutes at Washington Reagan National but two hours at Las Vegas'=20 McCarran International. Fliers say that, despite the guideline, they don't= =20 know if they will have to wait a few seconds or an hour or more. That kind= =20 of unpredictability can doom the scheduling required for a business trip. 'I scrutinize every trip' "Before, I used to jump on a plane at the drop of a hat. Now, I scrutinize= =20 every trip," says software consultant Karin Dreger of Houston, who adds=20 that she now dreads going to the airport. Some corporate travel managers=20 say they've noticed employees saying the fatigue and frustration are=20 causing some of them to cut back on the number of trips they are taking.=20 "Instead of taking four trips a month, they are taking three or two. They=20 are evaluating their time," says Cheryl Hutchinson, who just departed as=20 global travel director at American Management Systems. Adding to the woes=20 is the possibility that an airport might be evacuated because of a security= =20 breach. In today's hair-trigger environment, snafus that once escaped=20 public notice now can shut down an entire airport in minutes. Five airport= =20 terminals have been emptied and passengers rescreened recently because of=20 unplugged metal detectors. One of those airports, Los Angeles International, has had at least five=20 evacuations in 23 days for various reasons. Security threats aren't the=20 only reason the security line sometimes comes to a screeching halt.=20 Consultant Ed Nazarko missed his flight at Newark, N.J., in November when a= =20 checkpoint worker going through bags decided to go on a bathroom break,=20 leaving 60 travelers standing in line for 10 minutes. When Nazarko called=20 for the supervisor and asked whether another worker could take over to get= =20 the line moving again, he says he was told that his complaint amounted to=20 harassment and that the police would be called if he didn't shut up. Lawyer= =20 Robert C. Goldberg objected to having his briefcase searched on a trip from= =20 Chicago to New York because it contained confidential grand jury=20 transcripts. After being threatened with a strip search if he didn't pipe=20 down, Goldberg says a supervisor settled on feeling around inside the=20 briefcase without looking at the transcripts. "Forget the 'friendly skies,'= =20 " Goldberg says. "Just give me a friendly airport." Federal and airline=20 industry officials say that's exactly what they're trying to do. For=20 starters, there's the push for a national traveler identity card. Travelers= =20 who want one would have to pay a fee, maybe as much as $100, and submit to= =20 a background check. They would swipe their card when they go to the airport= =20 and maybe match their fingerprint or retinal scan to a government database= =20 to prove their identity; screeners could then allow them to undergo a=20 less-rigorous security inspection than casual fliers might receive. "This=20 is a fundamental first step," says Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, an ID-card= =20 backer. 'Do something about these lines' The drive has the backing of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, who told= =20 USA TODAY he favors "some kind of trusted flier program, biometric card,=20 eye scan fingerprint" for frequent fliers and flight crews. "Let's try to=20 do something about these lines and focus the screeners and the technology=20 not on the people that we know and have been basically precleared, but on=20 the people we don't know and the baggage we don't know about," he says. The= =20 TSA is working with airlines to develop the card but is being careful not=20 to create something that might allow terrorists to slip in, spokesman Jim=20 Mitchell says. In the meantime, more is being done to speed up the process.= =20 Airlines are studying the lines to figure out how to get them to move=20 quicker. Northwest Airlines put more tables near the metal detectors to let= =20 travelers empty their pockets ahead of time and not tie up the entrance to= =20 the machine. The airline has assigned a couple of industrial engineers to=20 study the process and plans to pass their findings on to the TSA. Such=20 steps "will help us reduce the irritation of the traveler," says Dirk=20 McMahon, senior vice president at Northwest. The TSA is doing its part, too, by looking for ways to standardize security= =20 at the nation's airports. It's doing things like installing pads on floors= =20 so passengers can be positioned most efficiently for pat downs and wand=20 searches. They'll also be able to keep an eye on valuables coming off the=20 X-ray belt. Checkpoints are "better already, and I think they'll be better= =20 tomorrow," says the TSA's Mitchell. "It's continuous improvement." But=20 some, such as frequent business traveler Donald Mayer of Jamesville, N.Y.,= =20 will believe it when they see it: "Whenever I travel, I feel like I am in a= =20 police state." 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