Many items confiscated at airport

Monday, Sept. 17, 2001 | 10:05 a.m.

The federal resolve to beef up security at the nation's airports has hit many passengers in the pocket and purse.

At McCarran International Airport, thousands of passengers have had to surrender personal items, even small metal tools such as tweezers. The Federal Aviation Administration instituted a policy banning any and all cutting instruments after Tuesday's air attacks.

At the Southwest Airlines baggage claim at McCarran, customer service agents had boxes full of such items, surrendered by passengers who have passed through security checkpoints since Friday.

Some of the items could obviously serve as weapons: carving knives, switchblades, hammers and large bottles of potentially explosive butane. Small pocket knives, once allowed, are now prohibited in carry-on bags.

But thousands of the confiscated items wouldn't have been considered security threats before the attacks: sewing kits, combs and hair picks, dental instruments, bottle openers, fingernail clippers and files.

Nearly every bag is getting a thorough search, prompting long lines at security checkpoints.

"Most people have been very nice about it," Nancy Davis, a Southwest customer service agent said. "Everybody has been cooperative.

"It's not something we're just doing with passengers -- the flight crew, too," said Davis, who lives in Boulder City. Curbside baggage drops are a thing of the past. E-ticket passengers need some form of written confirmation before they can get past security.

Another less visible effect of the attacks is that there will be fewer flights to and from McCarran. Most major carriers announced cuts of 20 percent to 30 percent to their flight schedules.

Hilarie Grey, McCarran spokeswoman, said Sunday that the normal traffic through the airport was off significantly by the end of the weekend. The thousands of weekend visitors who would crowd returning flights on Sunday evening were gone, their business lost to the terror on Tuesday and the national disruption of air service.

The lighter traffic helped alleviate some of the pressure at airline desks, which had been flooded not only with passengers leaving Friday and Saturday but also with many passengers who were checking on the status of flights scheduled days or weeks later.

Airport officials pleaded with passengers, their families and friends to stay away from the terminal unless they were taking a flight the same day. Although airlines are still asking passengers to arrive two hours or more before the flight departure time, lines were small Sunday when compared with the past week.

People were walking longer distances from their cars to airport terminals at McCarran and nationwide. The FAA has instituted a policy restricting parking within 300 feet of airport terminals. That excludes most short-term parking at McCarran.

That hasn't affected traffic at McCarran significantly, Grey said, but the airport could join others nationwide in appealing the decision to the FAA later.

Grey said McCarran's recovery "has been pretty good" as of Sunday night, when about 80 percent of the usual number of flights were coming and going.

With most major airlines reducing their flight load, McCarran and other airports may take months to fully recover.

"It's kind of wait-and-see," Grey said. "It's going to take a while to regroup."

Southwest Airlines was one of the few major carriers to try to get all of its flights in the air.

Scott Haag, Southwest's ground security coordinator, said the airline was running nearly a full schedule Sunday, with 99 percent of those flights on time.

But operations are not as they were.

"It's entirely different from a security standpoint," Haag said.

He predicted that Southwest will be able to sustain a concerted focus on security through "a huge team effort." And though "everything's a bit weird" now, "people's confidence will grow," Haag said.

That confidence is important to Las Vegas' economy and that of the entire country, he said.

"People's faith (in air travel) needs to be restored as soon as possible," Haag said.

Most -- not all -- passengers took the new security procedures well, McCarran and airline officials reported.

Some passengers welcomed the security.

"I think the airlines are just trying to be cautious and take care of the passengers," said Sharon Nakamura. "I appreciate it."

Nakamura and her friend Leda Peni found themselves stranded in Las Vegas Tuesday after their flight from Hawaii to Colorado was interrupted.

"We had to land," Peni said. "We didn't know anyone here."

They were expecting to spend a few days in Colorado Springs before starting classes at a missionary school there. Fortunately, the school found supporters in Las Vegas who were willing to open their doors to the two women.

"People have been very gracious," Peni said. "God found us a place to stay. We had a really, really great time here."

Kim Yochum, a Las Vegas resident, also found her travel plans in tatters after the attacks. She was visiting family in Buffalo, N.Y., with her two young sons.

She said security was on her mind after the attacks, and doesn't fault the FAA or the airlines for the new procedures.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Yochum said. She found herself waiting after checking in at the ticket counter in Buffalo two hours before her Sunday flight, as the airline advised.

"I'd have waited four hours if they'd wanted me to," she said.

Her husband, Greg Yochum, Sunset Station finance director, agreed that the security needs were primary. Members of his family often work in New York City, he said.

But he said the family, if possible, will try to drive rather than fly in the future.

Others will likely have to seek other means of getting around the country. Most major carriers are cutting the number of scheduled flights.

"For at least the foreseeable future, we will likely only build back to about 80 percent of the capacity that we flew before this terrible tragedy and the implementation of new airport security regulations," American Airlines President Don Carty said in a message to airline employees Friday.

"The complexity of implementing these security procedures and our inexperience at operating in this new environment is affecting and will continue to affect how much of a normal schedule we can operate," Carty said.

Two of the four planes used by terrorists Tuesday belonged to American.

Other security measures are easing. FAA officials said they have certified the reopening of all major airports nationwide, with the exception of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., because of its proximity to government facilities and national monuments.

Clark County's general aviation airports, catering to smaller, privately owned planes, also have reopened. But the FAA and Clark County Aviation Department warned that only aircraft with FAA-approved flight plans, flying on instrument flight rules, will be allowed in the sky.

"We are restoring the national airspace system in a phased manner, after careful evaluation of the safety and security issues in each sector," U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Friday.

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