Passengers moving more freely at airport these days

Dan Kulin

Monday, Feb. 23, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

Four months ago Stephen Shaya spent three hours waiting to go through the metal detectors at McCarran International Airport and almost missed his flight because of the delay.

So on Sunday the 33-year-old physician started his trip back to Michigan a few hours earlier. He got to McCarran with time to spare, expecting to spend a few hours in another security line.

But instead of sluggish travelers shuffling their carry-ons through a snail-paced line 100 yards long, Shaya was pleasantly surprised by what he saw at the security entrance to the A and B Gates.

"To our amazement, the lines are nothing," Shaya said.

Around 5 p.m. that's close to what the lines were at most of the main security checkpoints at the airport. The worst wait was at the entrance to C Gates, where the wait seemed to fluctuate between 10 and 20 minutes late Sunday afternoon. It was a marked improvement from weeks and months earlier.

"They're all a lot better than they were last year," said Charles Curry, a 38-year-old printing company owner from Austin, Texas.

"We got here 3 1/2 hours early just in case. But now we'll have time for dinner," said Curry, as he moved about halfway through the line at the C Gates in about five minutes.

Increased numbers of travelers, new security procedures and too few security checkpoints have been blamed by travelers and officials for the increasing waits at airport security checkpoints.

Transportation Security Administration officials had said the security screening process at McCarran would be streamlined and likely lead to shorter lines over the weekend. TSA officials would not comment on specifics of the screening process.

The lines this weekend may have been lower for any number of factors, including the weather or the lower number of travelors, McCarran spokeswoman Debbie Millett said.

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez, agreed, adding that it was too early to tell if the recent changes were the reason lines moved more quickly this past weekend.

"The number of travelers were nowhere close to what the numbers were last weekend after a holiday weekend," Melendez said. "Next weekend, when we have a big convention, we'll get a better idea if the changes we made at the checkpoints were what made the difference or not."

As of this morning, the only long line at the airport was for Starbucks, Millett said.

Daniel Ghiyam, 31, said it would take a few more visits to McCarran without the long lines to persuade him not to build an extra hour or two into his travel time.

Ghiyam, a doctor from Los Angeles, spent more than an hour waiting to get past security about four months ago, and was at the airport 2 1/2 hours early on Sunday. But instead of waiting he was through security in just a few minutes.

"But it could just be a one-time thing," he said. "It'll take a few more times to convince me."

Alix Boivin, 19, of Montreal was also surprised to see a lack of long lines at McCarran.

"Especially with going international. I hope it will stay like this," she said.

And while what changes if any were put in place before the weekend wasn't known, a long-term solution to the long lines is on the way, authorities said.

The TSA is expected to hire 350 additional security screeners for McCarran this summer -- the airport is authorized to have 900 TSA workers, but is operating with about 800 workers. The hirings will bring McCarran to full staffing and provide workers for six new checkpoints opening at the C and D Gates, bringing the total number of checkpoints at the airport to 31.

Carvel Bass, 56, said that while the lines looked good Sunday, he's given up trying to forecast what the travel conditions will be like.

"I don't expect anything anymore, but I don't cut it too close anymore either," Bass, a musician and ecologist, said. "I come with things to do and time to kill."