This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Slip-On Shoes, Long Waits: Air Travelers Still Adjusting September 11, 2003 By KATE ZERNIKE BOSTON, Sept. 10 - Jay Lowell stopped taking the first flight in the morning, having learned that in his waking fog he invariably left something - wallet, wedding ring, sport coat - at the security check. Terri Murray no longer dozes on planes, wanting to remain vigilant. Cheryl Cohenour has traded her heels and suits for casual dress on business trips. Her family and friends now receive more gifts, which she picks out at the airport minimalls she used to dash by, back in the day when she could leave the office 30 minutes before her flight and still make it. Airports, where the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were launched, are where the most Americans, about a billion passengers last year, have seen the post-Sept. 11 changes up close. Some of those changes are big and obvious: the 49,600 federal security agents in crisp white shirts, mammoth bag-screening machines, hundreds of pilots carrying guns. Logan Airport here, where the two planes that hit the World Trade Center took off, has added 61 state troopers since the attacks. Across the country, there are fewer flights, especially direct ones, and fewer passengers. Two years after the attacks, frequent fliers seem to have settled in to their new world of travel. But a tour of airports large and small shows people making subtle adjustments, ones that suggest both a sense of resolve and a continued sense of vulnerability. Travelers have bought post-9/11 shoes (slip-ons, no metal), bags (bigger, more compartments), even bras (no underwire) to smooth the ride through security. People have stopped wearing knee braces and removed medical devices to prevent incontinence rather than deal with a strip search at security. Frequent fliers offer a few lessons. Do not drink coffee and/or water before boarding the New York-Washington shuttle; federal law requires passengers to stay in their seats within 30 minutes of the nation's capital, or the length of a shuttle flight, so a trip to bathroom could result in a $10,000 fine. Carry prescriptions, or the identification card showing the tiny X-ray to prove it really is the knee replacement setting off the sensor. Order an extra driver's license; having to show it so often increases the risk of losing it. Knitting needles, however, at least the plastic or bamboo ones, apparently no longer prompt alarm. The adjustments are constant. Just when a passenger figures out the shoe thing, her hand lotion registers as nitroglycerine on a scan in tiny Presque Isle, Me., where the security agents on duty sometimes outnumber the travelers. By all accounts, the biggest adjustment has been arriving for flights earlier, up to two hours instead of 15 minutes. On the other hand, those who used to sprint to gates with minutes to spare say they have come to like their cushion of time. Ms. Murray, a 31-year-old financial adviser who flies once a week from her home in Charlotte, N.C., has started keeping a journal of entrepreneurial ideas she dreams up while waiting for planes. "Instead of a hot bathtub with a glass of champagne at home, it's beer at the airport," she said, drinking that beer at Logan. "It's my alone time." But like Ms. Murray, people remain on alert. Airport directors say more people are reporting suspicious behavior among other passengers. Some travelers say people seem more serious at airports. Ms. Cohenour, 47, was taken aback earlier this summer to suddenly hear children laughing in an airport. "I used to feel like, `Hey, I'm going somewhere, it's fun,' " said Ms. Cohenour, an engineering consultant who lives in Tulsa, Okla. "Travel is not such a frivolous activity anymore. It could result in your life. It requires a lot more thought." At O'Hare airport in Chicago on Monday, Susane Vitale, 36, looked perplexed as a screener sifted through her toiletry bag looking for the thing that had appeared as a knife on the X-ray. "But I hardly carry any toiletries any more," Ms. Vitale insisted. Two minutes later, the screener's sternness melted to a smile. "This is our culprit," he said, fishing out a silver barrette. "The barrette," Ms. Vitale said, "I hadn't even thought about the barrette." Like most other business travelers, she has adapted: She bought a bigger tote to accommodate her purse when airlines began restricting passengers to two carry-ons. No more heels, trench coats or jean jackets - belts and buttons only mean hassle. "It's changed how I am as a woman," she said. "Minimal jewelry. No razor, no tweezers. Now the barrette. It's a no-win game. What do you bring as a woman anymore?" Indeed, women seem more likely to say they have made adjustments to packing and dressing. But men and women alike complain that security can be inconsistent, or seem silly: when a pen could be a weapon, why bother taking away nail files? Why do shoes that saunter through four airport screenings not make it through the fifth? Randomness, of course, is part of the plan: the Sept. 11 hijackers practiced their methods well in advance to see what they could get away with. Still, said Brad Handler, 35, flying from New York to Boston, "I know if I buy a one-way ticket, I'm going to get that `S'," the mark of those chosen for special screening. "It's pretty obvious it's totally not random." Security is not the only complaint. Fewer flights have made planning harder, flying more cramped. Cookie Grandmaison, a management consultant, had planned to live half the year with her husband, who is retired in Northern Maine. Her job, however, demands weekly travel, and with the cuts in flights from Maine, it makes more sense to spend about eight months at their home in Virginia. There are some ways in which flying feels normal again. Immediately after the attacks, pilots were making announcements advising passengers to watch their seatmates for suspicious behavior, and be ready to stop anyone from storming the cabin. This week, on a United flight to Chicago, the pilot was back to announcing the sports finals: "Andy Roddick wins the U.S. Open." With occasional but prominent exceptions, long lines have largely dwindled. The Transportation Security Administration, created in November 2001 to take over security from airports and airlines, reports the average waiting time at checkpoints at under 10 minutes. At Logan, for example, screeners said most resistance comes from pilots. Other travelers seem grateful. "I'm on planes two, three times a week, I'd just as soon take my shoes off than have somebody get explosives through," said Brian O'Toole, 45, an investment adviser flying through O'Hare. "You can't afford too many mistakes at 35,000 feet." Yet despite the adjustments, airports remain the place where it is easy to trigger emotion. "They asked me who my next-of-kin was when I checked in," Ms. Cohenour, the consultant from Tulsa, said as she shopped at O'Hare. "That hit me hard." She is scheduled to fly home on the anniversary of the attacks, on American Airlines. Her daughter booked the ticket, thinking only <object.title class="Movie" idsrc="nyt_ttl" value="173819">"Thursday"</object.title> and not "the 11th." Ms. Cohenour scoffed when a friend tried to persuade her to change it. Then, as CNN began running special 9/11 programming, she began to consider how much a change would cost. Then she considered that changing might be admitting defeat. She decided to keep the plan. "I thought, it's life," she said. "I'm going to travel." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/national/11AIRL.html?ex=1064294021&ei=1&en=d94b6977a7676bcb --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company