A Jan. 2 Business article about the future of air travel incorrectly said that the Registered Traveler Program includes retina scans. The part of the eye that is scanned for identification purposes is the iris.
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The Flight Pattern For 2007
(Laurence Kesterson - AP)
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That move snarled security lines as passengers and screeners tried to figure out the new rules. Wait times at Dulles and Reagan National airports spiked. Worried that confusion about the rules was causing the increase, TSA launched a publicity campaign before the Thanksgiving travel crunch to alert people to the changes. The agency also beefed up staffing at checkpoints to handle the throng of travelers.
In the first few weeks of last month, the average peak wait time nationally has dropped to 11 minutes from 13 minutes in October, officials said.
Local airports also saw their wait times fall. The average peak wait time at Dulles last month dipped to 14 minutes from 24 minutes in October. During that same period, wait times at National dropped to 11 minutes from 15, and BWI's fell to 8 from 12.
The security measures also affected how airlines coped with baggage. After the initial ban in August, the number of checked bags rose by more than 20 percent. That has since settled down to 15 percent above pre-ban levels, TSA officials said.
Airlines are not losing as many bags as they did in August and September, according to the most recent data released by the federal government. But they are still mishandling far more bags than they did last year.
Airlines mishandled nearly 400,000 bags, or 7.5 per 1,000 fliers, in October, the last month for which statistics are available. That is up from the 4.96 per 1,000 they lost or misplaced in October 2005.
Security Restrictions
There is no end in sight to the ban on gels and liquids from passenger cabins, according to the TSA. Officials say they are excited about a hand-held device that can help them detect liquid explosives in a container-by-container analysis. The device would allow screeners to verify that bottles contain medicine or breast milk without opening them, speeding the checkpoint process without spoiling the liquids, officials said. The TSA's top official, Kip Hawley, said the device, built by ICx Nomadics, was recently tested at an airport in New Mexico and seems to be "very promising."
"We will be able to quickly ascertain if something contains explosives without opening it," Hawley said.
But despite testing at laboratories, the government has not found a device that can detect liquid explosives in carry-on bags. That means the TSA is unlikely to allow large containers of liquids and gels back into airplane cabins before the end of 2007, Hawley said.
A machine that scans shoes for explosives, allowing passengers to keep their footwear on, has been approved for use in Registered Traveler lanes.
