wigstheone
Feb 22, 02, 4:54 am
WASHINGTON -- The federal takeover of airport security is running into turbulence -- with delays, evacuations and treatment of frequent fliers causing messy conflicts between airlines and federal officials.
Several major airports have had to evacuate their facilities of passengers during the past few days, inconveniencing as many as 1,000 people in some cases. The precipitating incidents have ranged from a screener caught sleeping on the job to a suspicious package that turned out to be containers of gumbo, leading to questions over what kind of security breaches should result in airport evacuations.
"People are jumpy right now," an industry official said. "There has to be process for determining when to bring planes back or evacuate a concourse."
Some examples of severe delays from this week given by airport officials and the Federal Aviation Administration:
• On Monday, a flight bound for Cleveland from New York's La Guardia Airport was forced to return and a concourse was evacuated after it was determined a passenger wasn't properly screened; about 600 travelers were affected.
• On Tuesday at the international airport in Louisville, Ky., a security employee fell asleep at a checkpoint. Passengers were rescreened, leading to lines as long as 2-1/2 hours; 1,000 travelers were delayed.
• On Wednesday at New Orleans International Airport, one concourse was closed for about an hour and another was evacuated for about five hours after a suspicious package was found wrapped with newspaper clippings about fear of airport terror attacks. A bomb squad opened the box and found containers of gumbo inside; officials said about 1,000 travelers were affected.
A Federal Aviation Administration official said the agency hasn't calculated how many total flight delays have occurred so far this year as a result of security incidents. In November and December of last year, after the Bush administration instituted its "zero tolerance" policy on security lapses, more than 2,500 hours of flight delay were attributed to security, most of that from 29 evacuations of airport terminals.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286,SB1014333436723731920,00.html?mod=DAI
Several major airports have had to evacuate their facilities of passengers during the past few days, inconveniencing as many as 1,000 people in some cases. The precipitating incidents have ranged from a screener caught sleeping on the job to a suspicious package that turned out to be containers of gumbo, leading to questions over what kind of security breaches should result in airport evacuations.
"People are jumpy right now," an industry official said. "There has to be process for determining when to bring planes back or evacuate a concourse."
Some examples of severe delays from this week given by airport officials and the Federal Aviation Administration:
• On Monday, a flight bound for Cleveland from New York's La Guardia Airport was forced to return and a concourse was evacuated after it was determined a passenger wasn't properly screened; about 600 travelers were affected.
• On Tuesday at the international airport in Louisville, Ky., a security employee fell asleep at a checkpoint. Passengers were rescreened, leading to lines as long as 2-1/2 hours; 1,000 travelers were delayed.
• On Wednesday at New Orleans International Airport, one concourse was closed for about an hour and another was evacuated for about five hours after a suspicious package was found wrapped with newspaper clippings about fear of airport terror attacks. A bomb squad opened the box and found containers of gumbo inside; officials said about 1,000 travelers were affected.
A Federal Aviation Administration official said the agency hasn't calculated how many total flight delays have occurred so far this year as a result of security incidents. In November and December of last year, after the Bush administration instituted its "zero tolerance" policy on security lapses, more than 2,500 hours of flight delay were attributed to security, most of that from 29 evacuations of airport terminals.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286,SB1014333436723731920,00.html?mod=DAI