New year brings new airport baggage rules

Jace Radke

Monday, Dec. 30, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

Transportation Security Administration travel tips:

Do not put film in checked bags because screening will damage it.

Do not pack food or beverages in checked baggage.

Pack footwear on top of other contents.

Spread out books instead of stacking them.

Put personal belongings, such as toothbrushes or underwear, in clear plastic bags, so that they are not handled by screeners.

Do not wrap gifts.

Put scissors, pocket knives and other sharp items in checked bags, never in carry-on bags.

For more information go to the travelers and consumers section of the TSA website, www.tsa.gov, or the Las Vegas airport's website, www.mccarran.com

Robin Krause didn't follow Transportation Security Administration guidelines and used her checked baggage to do a little harmless Boston-to-Las Vegas smuggling last week.

She succeeded because her locked suitcase -- full of wrapped presents for her family in Henderson -- wasn't chosen as part of a random search for explosives.

"I figured what the heck," Krause said as she pulled her bags from a luggage carousel at McCarran International Airport.

Krause and others who are not complying with the TSA's request not to lock bags may find themselves with a broken suitcase or lock if they return home after midnight Wednesday.

That's when the TSA's deadline kicks in for all of the nation's 429 airports to screen all checked baggage for explosives, Jim Blair, McCarran's federal security director, said.

"If there is a need to go into a piece of baggage for screening, we will go in," Blair said.

That could mean cutting locks or forcing open locked suitcases, if a bomb-sniffing dog or explosives detection machine sounds an alert about something in a bag.

Screeners will put a card inside any bag opened to notify passengers that their bag was opened and searched. The bag will then be resealed with blue tape with the word "inspected" printed on it.

The TSA is asking passengers not to lock bags, not to pack wrapped gifts, not to pack shoes under other contents in baggage and not to pack stacks of books, among other guidelines.

The TSA is also recommending that travelers use plastic zip ties to secure baggage because they can easily be clipped off for searches and won't cost travelers a lock. The TSA is moving toward providing travelers with free, plastic, padlock-like seals that screeners can snip open if a search is necessary, but the seals will likely not be available by Jan. 1.

Krause said she will probably use zip ties to secure her bags instead of locks.

"My roommate actually suggested it to me this time," Krause said. "I didn't know about the rules about locked bags, and I think that they (the federal government) should make it clearer. "From now on I'll pack all my valuables in my carry-on."

That's probably the best plan for several reasons -- not the least of which is that it is unclear who will be held responsible if items are broken or missing from luggage that has been searched.

Responsibility will be looked at on a case-by-case basis by the airline, TSA and the airport, James Loy, TSA undersecretary of transportation, said.

For now, at least, authorities are more concerned about efficiency than possible liability or reimbursement responsibilities.

"We're hoping people look at the guidelines and realize that if their things pass through screening quicker, it will speed up the process for everyone," Blair said.

Many holiday travelers at McCarran last week were not using locks for their bags.

"We don't lock our bags anyway because we don't put anything valuable in there," said Jamie Crandall, who flew into Las Vegas from Chicago with her husband and four children. "It doesn't bother us because we want to be safe when we fly.

"If security wants to look in our bags, they can be our guest."

The TSA has developed bag screening plans in conjunction with each of the nation's airports. At McCarran, a combination of bomb-sniffing dogs, hand searches and electronic explosives detection machines are being used to screen bags.

During slower periods, McCarran has already been able to screen 100 percent of the checked baggage at the airport. The airport received another shipment of minivan-sized explosive detection machines, or EDS, and its tabletop cousins, known as explosive trace detection machines, or ETDs.

Blair would not comment on the number of machines currently at the airport, but said he was confident that there will be enough to meet the Jan. 1 deadline.

"There is a lot of equipment out front that you can see and a lot of equipment that you don't see," Blair said.

There are more than 10 EDS machines and 50 ETDs visible in ticketing at McCarran, and the TSA currently has about 1,000 employees working at the airport.

By mid-2004 the airport is to have a conveyor belt system to move baggage through electronic screening in a room behind the ticketing area, officials have said. Such a system would require about 60 EDS machines and 140 tabletop machines. It is expected to cost more than $150 million to build.

Construction is already a constant in ticketing because new arrivals of EDS and ETD machines are being installed as they come in.

"Our main focus is Jan. 1, and after that we'll start to concentrate on the in-line solution more," Blair said. "Our focus is on constantly improving the security and customer service at McCarran."