Air travelers brace for more complicated airport procedures WASHINGTON (AP) =97 Holiday travelers who left before Christmas may have a= =20 different airport experience if they fly home after New Year's Day. Their=20 checked bags likely will be searched for explosives, although the method =97= =20 machine, human hands or dogs =97 will vary by airport. And at more than 40= =20 airports, travelers with only carry-on bags no longer can go straight to=20 the gate. They'll have to make a detour to the ticket counter or a kiosk to= =20 get a boarding pass. The changes are bound to create problems, said Michael= =20 Boyd, a Denver-based airline consultant. He offered this advice: Don't=20 check anything and get there very early. "It could be total chaos," he=20 said. Enhanced security at airports isn't new for frequent air travelers.=20 They know that they'll have to show a government-issued ID several times=20 before reaching the gate. Coats, and sometimes shoes, must be taken off and= =20 run through the same machines that check carry-on bags. Travelers may be=20 randomly selected for a second, and even a third, search. The new security is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration,= =20 created after the Sept. 11 attacks to protect travelers from terrorists. In= =20 the past year, the agency has hired more than 50,000 people =97= distinguished=20 by their white shirts and yellow embroidered badges =97 to screen passengers= =20 and baggage at 424 commercial airports. Now the TSA is in the midst of=20 adding another layer of security: screening all checked bags for=20 explosives. It's an enormous undertaking =97 an estimated 1.5 billion bags= =20 get checked at U.S. airports every year. Small airports can easily meet the= =20 requirement that all bags be screened because they can use labor-intensive= =20 methods such as searching by hand and using a wand that detects explosives= =20 residue on the outside of bags. Larger airports need more efficient=20 SUV-sized bomb-detection machines. They've been in short supply, though,=20 and it can take months for older airports to shore up floors to hold them,= =20 build power stations to run them and construct ramps, conveyor belts and=20 guardrails to incorporate them in baggage handling systems. Congress=20 originally stipulated that every bag be screened starting Jan. 1. But last= =20 month lawmakers agreed to extend the deadline after airport managers=20 complained the TSA had waited until this summer to begin ordering,=20 delivering and installing the bomb-detection machines =97 too late to meet= =20 the cut-off date. The TSA is working feverishly to get as many of the machines in place as=20 possible by New Year's Day, often in temporary locations such as lobbies.=20 "It's a madhouse," said Jerry Orr, aviation director at Charlotte-Douglas=20 International Airport in North Carolina, where 16 big bomb-detection=20 machines are being delivered. "I'm hoping that we won't delay any=20 airplanes." TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said the agency is pleased by the= =20 progress, though he acknowledged the situation at some airports is hectic.= =20 Charlotte is temporarily setting up its machines to stand alone, which=20 means TSA screeners will have to put bags into machines by hand, a=20 cumbersome process. It will take months for the airport to incorporate the= =20 bomb-screening machines with the automated baggage system. There's also the= =20 problem of "false positives" =97 a machine recording an explosive or weapon= =20 when none exists. Some machines register such readings nearly one-third of= =20 the time. In those cases, a TSA screener must open the bag and search it by= =20 hand. "The machines are simply too unreliable to efficiently process the number=20 of people and bags going through the system," said Kenneth Quinn, former=20 general counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration. Johnson said=20 officials are confident that by New Year's Day every bag will be checked by= =20 a machine, by hand, by wands that detect explosives, by bomb-sniffing dogs= =20 =97 or matched to a passenger prior to takeoff. David Stempler, president of= =20 the Air Travelers Association, said matching bags to passengers =97 a system= =20 in place since February =97 is easier for airports but not as effective as= =20 physically inspecting a suitcase for bombs, though it is easier to do. "It= =20 assumes you have a non-suicidal bomber," he said. Some airports will manage= =20 to screen all baggage on Jan. 1. Boston's Logan International Airport began= =20 construction this summer and spent $146 million to build an automated=20 screening system =97 including 2.8 miles of new conveyor belts =97 behind= the=20 ticket counter. Logan officials say air travelers won't notice any=20 difference from the old system that didn't screen bags. But at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, travelers must carry=20 their checked bags from the ticket counter to the bomb-detection station in= =20 the lobby, where a TSA screener will put it through a machine. The=20 passenger then walks around to the other side where the machine spits out=20 the baggage after scanning it. A screener then hand searches bags that=20 generate false positives. Then the passenger checks the bag. That can=20 involve standing in three lines. One day last week, with only eight people= =20 in line, it took 15 minutes to complete the process. "I do find it=20 confusing," said Jolie Palensky, 33, a statistician from Alexandria, Va.,=20 who was traveling from Washington to Minnesota. Passengers may be confused,= =20 as well, by differing policies at different airports. But some don't mind=20 the hassles. "I fully support and like to work in a safe and secure=20 environment," said Jack Koller, a 29-year-old government worker from=20 Washington who waited 15 minutes for a screener to search his baggage at=20 Reagan National. "I'll make the necessary sacrifices to make it happen." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) : escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.tobagoweddings.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************