Air travel goes smoothly, but real test coming next By Laura Parker, USA TODAY WASHINGTON =97 Travelers who flew on New Year's Day reported few snags in= the=20 start-up of security procedures that require all checked bags to be=20 screened for explosives. But Wednesday was a fairly light travel day. The=20 real test of the new system will come this weekend when holiday travelers=20 crowd airports to return home. A federal law requiring the bag screening at= =20 all 429 commercial airports in the USA took effect at midnight Tuesday. The= =20 law is the latest aviation security measure put in place since the Sept. 11= =20 terrorist attacks. Screening for explosives is designed to prevent=20 terrorists from placing a bomb aboard an airliner as they did in 1988 when= =20 Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. The= =20 screening, conducted by the federal Transportation Security Administration,= =20 primarily involves sending checked bags through sophisticated X-ray=20 machines as passengers check in. There are 1,100 such devices in U.S.=20 airports, with additional machines on order. Officials say at least 90% of= =20 the approximately 2 million bags checked each day will be screened=20 electronically. Bags that are not X-rayed are subject to hand searches, inspection by=20 bomb-sniffing dogs and precise bag-matching to make sure all checked=20 luggage matches passengers who board flights. Travelers are instructed not= =20 to lock their luggage. Chris Rhatigan, spokeswoman for the TSA, said no=20 delays were reported. Officials at the security agency declined to identify= =20 which airports have not acquired the explosives-detection equipment because= =20 it could provide information to terrorists. The machines are located near=20 check-in counters at many airports and are easily glimpsed by travelers.=20 Passengers arriving at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on=20 Wednesday morning had no complaints. Most said they were aware of the new=20 screening and had arrived early for their flights in anticipation of long=20 lines. "It was pretty seamless, actually," said Anil Kasibhatla, 34, who=20 caught an early morning United Airlines flight from Boston with his wife=20 and two small children. Troy MacCormick, 30, said his check-in at Buffalo was the easiest he has=20 experienced all year. He said the requirement to leave bags unlocked does=20 not disturb him. "I don't normally lock them," he said. "But I did think=20 about it when I packed my leather jacket in my bag today." *************************************************** 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: http://www.hilofoodstores.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************