Chinese School - US travelers adjusting to new rules

WORLD / America

US travelers adjusting to new rules
(AP)
Updated: 2006-08-11 21:11

LOS ANGELES - Tougher air travel security procedures were still evolving
at US airports early Friday, with a second layer of security check points
opening at the airplane gates and National Guard troops arriving to
patrol major airports in New York, California and Massachusetts.

After a day of long lines and confusion at many airports, passengers
arriving for flights Friday were better prepared for the new prohibition
on carrying liquids aboard aircraft.

A police officer with an automatic weapon stands near a traveler outside
of the British Airways terminal at JFK International Airport in New York,
Friday, Aug. 11, 2006. Passengers in the United States are facing
heightened security at airports today after authorities in London
uncovered a terror plot yesterday aimed at airlines traveling from
Britain to the US. [AP]

Rather than discovering at the last minute that they would have to throw
out makeup, perfume and suntan lotion, travelers were packing those items
in checked luggage instead. That helped shrink the check point lines for
domestic flights to lengths closer to normal Friday morning at Miami
International Airport, spokesman Greg Chin said.

Kingsley Veal, 35, a geologist from England, said his Continental flight
from London's Heathrow airport to San Francisco was "long and boring"
because he couldn't bring any books or music on board, but he thought the
no-carry-on policy should always be in effect.

"If no one's allowed anything, then you'd know, right?" Veal said.

The security rules were tighter on flights to and from the United
Kingdom, but the long lines that formed ahead of some early international
departures at Miami Friday cleared out quickly, Chin said.

Traffic also was moving more smoothly at New York's major airports, where
the flight delays Friday morning were generally no more than 15 minutes,
said Tiffany Townsend, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey.

The new rules were hastily added early Thursday after British authorities
arrested 24 people in an alleged plot to blow up US-bound planes by using
explosives disguised as common liquids. It wasn't clear how long they
would remain in effect, though Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said the
situation "eliminates the days of carry-on baggage."

It took two hours for Ken Kirkwood and his wife to get off their flight
from London to Los Angeles, go through customs and retrieve their luggage.

"We're glad to be on solid ground," said the school teacher from Yucaipa,
Calif., who arrived after an 11-hour flight to find a bomb squad vehicle
parked near the plane on the runway.

From London to Los Angeles, travelers on Thursday had found themselves
unpacking carry-on bags on the floor in the terminals. Some tried to
squeeze makeup, sunscreen and other toiletries into their checked
baggage, where liquids were permissible. Others filled up the bins at
security checkpoints, abandoning everything from nail polish to a bottle
of tequila.

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