Security Sharp, Holiday Travelers Aren't

Knives, Clubs, A Loaded Toy Cannon, And Even A Brick Seized

(AP)  Attention airline passengers: You can't take knives, clubs or boxcutters onto airplanes. Really. Truly.

Despite pervasive publicity on the restrictions since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, thousands of people apparently just got that news.

Seized at airports during the Thanksgiving crush: 15,982 pocket knives, 98 boxcutters, six guns and a brick.

Still, transportation officials said the airport chaos predicted by many never occurred. Passengers waited an average of less than 10 minutes at security checkpoints during the first holiday travel season since an all-federal work force took over screening.

Michael Wascom, spokesman for the Air Transport Association representing the major airlines, said operations were generally smooth even with bad weather in some places. "Passengers moved efficiently through the airports, and customer service standards were upheld," he said.

The government has tightened restrictions on what can be taken on board a plane since Sept. 11, when officials believe terrorists used boxcutters to kill flight attendants and take over the four planes.

Robert Johnson, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said many holiday travelers are inexperienced fliers and don't realize they can't take knives, scissors, fireworks or ammunition onto planes. If they try, the prohibited items will be confiscated. Passengers also could be prosecuted, a decision law enforcement officials make depending on the item and the circumstances.

Between Tuesday and Sunday of Thanksgiving week, six people who tried to carry guns onto planes were arrested: two at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport and one each at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport and Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

"We find the gun, we turn the passenger over to law enforcement at the checkpoint," said Johnson. "You're not allowed to have a gun at the airport without a permit."

At the 38 busiest U.S. airports over the Thanksgiving holiday, screeners confiscated 1,072 clubs or bats, along with 3,242 banned tools and 2,384 flammable items, the TSA said. Another 20,581 sharp objects such as scissors, ice picks and meat cleavers also were seized.

Among the more bizarre incidents:

• Someone tried, unsuccessfully, to bring a toy cannon with live ammunition onto a plane at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
  
  
• A welding gun was confiscated from a passenger at Boise Airport in Idaho.
  
  
• A man tried to carry a brick onto a plane at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington. "I don't know why he would carry a brick," Johnson said.

Despite a drumbeat of news reports about the restrictions and the boost in screening intensity, in the eight months from February to September, screeners nationwide seized 813 firearms, 783,670 knives and 31,064 boxcutters from passengers.

The prohibited items are given to local police, who either keep them as evidence or throw them away, Johnson said.

The TSA hopes the public catches on before Christmas, when air travel will be complicated by new gate check procedures and many more checked bags will be screened for explosives.

"We would expect that with the Christmas holiday, a lot of these people will be back and we hope they'll learn their lesson," Johnson said.

The agency is slowly eliminating random security checks of passengers at airport gates. Six airports have been phased in thus far, Johnson said. Air travelers must have boarding passes in hand before going through security at airport terminals that don't have gate screening.

Airlines are adding more self-service kiosks outside checkpoints so travelers can get their boarding passes without waiting at ticket counters, Johnson said.

Congress initially ordered that all checked baggage be screened for explosives by Dec. 31, but it later gave the TSA an extra year. The agency said it will try to have baggage-screening at as many airports as possible before Jan. 1, Johnson said.

The number of bags to be examined for explosives will increase "several-fold" by Christmas, Johnson said.