Airport steps up to alleviate long lines

Dan Kulin

Monday, March 1, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

McCarran International Airport had additional staff helping travelers prepare to go through security checkpoints over the last few days in what appears to have been a successful attempt to limit long lines as one of the city's largest conventions wrapped up.

About 90,000 people were expected at the Men's Apparel Guild in California convention, also known as MAGIC, which ended Thursday after four days at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Sands Expo.

On Thursday, Friday and Sunday, McCarran had about 50 staff called frontloaders working the lines at the security checkpoints reminding travelers to remove metal items, consolidate their belongings, and take off their shoes, airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said. On a normal day there would be 25 frontloaders, working at the airport, she said.

"We try to shave off whatever time we can," Grey said, adding that if the airport can cut even 30 seconds off each traveler's time when that traveler reaches the metal detector and X-ray machine that can add up to a significant impact on the line.

The waits to get through the checkpoints were around 10 minutes to 20 minutes Thursday, Friday and Sunday, according to Grey and other airport staff.

"There were small periods with longer waits but nothing horrible," Grey said.

Airport officials are hoping to avoid a return of waits of an hour or longer, which were last seen over Presidents Day weekend, she said.

For travelers interviewed Sunday at McCarran, a 15- to 20-minute wait was acceptable to most, although some said even that was too long a wait.

Scott Rothwell, 36, got to McCarran 2 1/2 hours early for his Sunday afternoon flight home to Columbus, Ohio.

"I was expecting worse because I've heard about the difficulties and long waits. This is a nice surprise," Rothwell said as he moved quickly through a line at the C gates.

A few yards behind Rothwell, Juan Martinez, 39, said he wasn't expecting the line he had to wait in.

"Twenty minutes is far too long compared to what I'm used to," he said, adding that in Houston, where he was returning to Sunday, the airport security lines were about five minutes long when he left.

Jacci Hawthorne, 40, also said a 15- to 20-minute wait seemed too long.

"It's because I haven't experienced that in other airports," said Hawthorne, who was returning to her home in England Sunday.

But Hawthorne's friend Beverly Wood, 39, of San Francisco, said a 20-minute wait is no big deal.

"I expect and want it that way, because I want them to be thorough and check everything," she said. "I expect to wait at least 15 to 20 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 said last month the security screening process at McCarran would be streamlined and likely lead to shorter lines. But so far, TSA officials have declined to comment on specifics of the screening process.

Grey said that while there isn't a target length of time in security lines that airport officials would like to see, she said that "for a busy day like Sunday, 15 to 20 minutes is really not bad at all."