antiquity
02-18-2002, 09:24 PM
With new airport security, disabled fear loss of service
By Aaron Davis
Mercury News
When Barb Mackie limped into San Francisco International Airport for a weekend flight to Minneapolis, a security screener quickly helped her to a wheelchair.
Alberto Penacerrada rolled the Pleasant Hill woman to a check-in counter, waited as airline agents checked her luggage, then escorted her past a crowded checkpoint to a quiet spot where screeners could remove the brace holding her dislocated knee and check for weapons.
She might not get the same treatment on her way home Tuesday.
The federal government takes control of security screening at airports across the country today, and advocates for the disabled and others are wondering whether tighter security will mean tougher trips for people who need special help. It may also mean the end of the common airline practice of moving passengers whose flight is about to depart to the head of the check-in line.
Airline and airport officials say they don't expect the switch to mean an immediate change in how screening is handled in the Bay Area. But over time, the government warns, screeners will focus more on security and less on service.
``There will be a grace period, and these security workers will continue to help special passengers, so nothing will change immediately,'' said Ron Wilson, San Francisco Airport spokesman. ``But questions remain about who will ultimately be responsible in some instances. The federal government is not going to handle wheelchairs.''
Until the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted Congress to replace airline contractors with security screeners who are federal employees, customer service was as much a part of many screeners' jobs as checking bags for bombs.
But with the Transportation Security Administration takeover -- a process that will occur between now and Nov. 19 and involve replacing all 31,000 screeners -- a whole new rule book will be written for airport security.
At San Jose Airport, skycaps are now permitted to pass through security, to roll passengers all the way from the curbside to their boarding areas. Will they get security clearance to do so when the government takes over?
At San Francisco and Oakland airports, officials say airlines may have to hire additional customer service representatives to help passengers through security. But it will be the new federal screeners doing the pat-downs -- will they be trained to properly remove disabled passengers from their wheelchairs for screening?
Nobody is quite sure.
Lenny Alcivar, a Transportation Department spokesman, said the decision not to allow federal security workers to get sidetracked with airline customer service issues, such as helping disabled passengers, will keep checkpoint screeners on task and reduce mistakes.
Aside from the millions of disabled passengers who require extra customer service annually, the new, less-friendly skies may also mean trouble for the countless passengers who depend on a little extra help to get to their flights on time.
To keep planes running on schedule amid heightened security and extra-long lines, airlines have been summoning late-comers up to the X-ray machines while others wait. But the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) isn't about customer satisfaction, it's about safety, said TSA spokesman Hank Price, who cautioned that the practice may end.
United Airlines spokesman Joe Hopkins in Chicago said the airline wants to work with the TSA to make sure time-strapped passengers continue to make their flights, but he admitted the airline has many more questions than answers at this point.
Disabled passengers, who say post-Sept. 11 airport security measures have already severely complicated travel, are skeptical.
``We're concerned about this and we are looking into it,'' said Ian Minicuci, operations manager of iCan.com, an Internet Web community for people with disabilities. ``I and other people with disabilities have enough trouble flying before this added security. It's critical that some people have airport escorts.''
At airports in the Bay Area and across the country this week, representatives of the new TSA have met with airport, law enforcement and other security officials. Largely, they have agreed to keep the status quo at security checkpoints for the next week or more.
The only certain difference: The TSA will have federal supervisors stationed at security checkpoints who will be notified immediately of any problems. Officials hope that oversight prevents a repeat of the confusion that led to an hour delay in beginning an evacuation of the San Francisco airport last month when a man with explosives residue on his shoes slipped through security.
``Passengers should notice nothing,'' Alcivar said. ``The federal takeover should be invisible at first.''
In coming days, that may be so, said Oakland Airport spokeswoman Cyndy Johnson. But ``customers' needs aren't going to change just because the government takes over,'' she said.
By Aaron Davis
Mercury News
When Barb Mackie limped into San Francisco International Airport for a weekend flight to Minneapolis, a security screener quickly helped her to a wheelchair.
Alberto Penacerrada rolled the Pleasant Hill woman to a check-in counter, waited as airline agents checked her luggage, then escorted her past a crowded checkpoint to a quiet spot where screeners could remove the brace holding her dislocated knee and check for weapons.
She might not get the same treatment on her way home Tuesday.
The federal government takes control of security screening at airports across the country today, and advocates for the disabled and others are wondering whether tighter security will mean tougher trips for people who need special help. It may also mean the end of the common airline practice of moving passengers whose flight is about to depart to the head of the check-in line.
Airline and airport officials say they don't expect the switch to mean an immediate change in how screening is handled in the Bay Area. But over time, the government warns, screeners will focus more on security and less on service.
``There will be a grace period, and these security workers will continue to help special passengers, so nothing will change immediately,'' said Ron Wilson, San Francisco Airport spokesman. ``But questions remain about who will ultimately be responsible in some instances. The federal government is not going to handle wheelchairs.''
Until the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted Congress to replace airline contractors with security screeners who are federal employees, customer service was as much a part of many screeners' jobs as checking bags for bombs.
But with the Transportation Security Administration takeover -- a process that will occur between now and Nov. 19 and involve replacing all 31,000 screeners -- a whole new rule book will be written for airport security.
At San Jose Airport, skycaps are now permitted to pass through security, to roll passengers all the way from the curbside to their boarding areas. Will they get security clearance to do so when the government takes over?
At San Francisco and Oakland airports, officials say airlines may have to hire additional customer service representatives to help passengers through security. But it will be the new federal screeners doing the pat-downs -- will they be trained to properly remove disabled passengers from their wheelchairs for screening?
Nobody is quite sure.
Lenny Alcivar, a Transportation Department spokesman, said the decision not to allow federal security workers to get sidetracked with airline customer service issues, such as helping disabled passengers, will keep checkpoint screeners on task and reduce mistakes.
Aside from the millions of disabled passengers who require extra customer service annually, the new, less-friendly skies may also mean trouble for the countless passengers who depend on a little extra help to get to their flights on time.
To keep planes running on schedule amid heightened security and extra-long lines, airlines have been summoning late-comers up to the X-ray machines while others wait. But the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) isn't about customer satisfaction, it's about safety, said TSA spokesman Hank Price, who cautioned that the practice may end.
United Airlines spokesman Joe Hopkins in Chicago said the airline wants to work with the TSA to make sure time-strapped passengers continue to make their flights, but he admitted the airline has many more questions than answers at this point.
Disabled passengers, who say post-Sept. 11 airport security measures have already severely complicated travel, are skeptical.
``We're concerned about this and we are looking into it,'' said Ian Minicuci, operations manager of iCan.com, an Internet Web community for people with disabilities. ``I and other people with disabilities have enough trouble flying before this added security. It's critical that some people have airport escorts.''
At airports in the Bay Area and across the country this week, representatives of the new TSA have met with airport, law enforcement and other security officials. Largely, they have agreed to keep the status quo at security checkpoints for the next week or more.
The only certain difference: The TSA will have federal supervisors stationed at security checkpoints who will be notified immediately of any problems. Officials hope that oversight prevents a repeat of the confusion that led to an hour delay in beginning an evacuation of the San Francisco airport last month when a man with explosives residue on his shoes slipped through security.
``Passengers should notice nothing,'' Alcivar said. ``The federal takeover should be invisible at first.''
In coming days, that may be so, said Oakland Airport spokeswoman Cyndy Johnson. But ``customers' needs aren't going to change just because the government takes over,'' she said.