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American Morning

Starting Tomorrow, Every Single Bag Going on an Airplane Supposed to be Screened

Aired January 17, 2002 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Whether by hand, by machine or by dog, starting tomorrow, every single bag going on an airplane is supposed to be screened. Congress imposed the deadline, and yesterday Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the airlines will have to meet that deadline. What will they be able to do about that, and what does this mean for passengers already facing long line at the airports?

Well, CNN's Jeff Flock, a guy who gets on lots of airplanes, joins us from Milwaukee's Mitchell International airport with some answers for us.

Good morning, Jeff. Good to see you again. A man on the move, as usual.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I know I'm glad not to be getting on an aircraft today. You sometimes like it when you get a chance not to. I actually drove to Milwaukee for this. We are Taking an up close and personal look here today, Paula, at General Mitchell International Airport just to give you some sense of what it looks like today and tomorrow as this all kicks into gear. Now we have cameras outside that give you a sense of the cold out there.

This is where -- if the bag match doesn't work, this is where bags would be pulled off of aircraft. Also, at the security checkpoint, where all of those security procedures continue in place, here at the check-in area, this is the location, of course, where the initial stuff is done, the initial checks are made, and I've got Pat Rowe at the airport, and I guess my headline question to you, Pat, is, are you ready for tomorrow?

PAT ROWE: The airlines have told us they're ready.

FLOCK: Right. So that's the best we can do right now.

Right.

In terms of being ready for that, it's the dogs. It's the X-ray machine, and now we have an X-ray machine down there.

Rick, if we're able to, why don't you spin around, if you can. Down there is the X-ray machine, all the way down there. That is not in gear yet, but you need to do a lot of screening with these machines and you don't have as many as you need at this point, correct?

ROWE: No, security really has changed things very much for airports. As can you see, that's a very large machine, and ideally, it wouldn't be situated in the middle of a passenger check-in area, but airports were not designed really to accommodate a lot of these large machines. So over the course of time, airports will need to remodel, as airports are built. Security equipment and security personnel are going to be shaping the way airports look.

FLOCK: So this is all going to change. The way it looks right now is going to look very different as we go down the road?

ROWE: Yes, it really will.

FLOCK: And tell me the other deadlines, if you would. We've got the deadline tomorrow to begin to do some sort of screening of bags or bag match, and then what's the next deadline for you?

ROWE: Well, the federal government is going to then take over the concourse security screening job in February. And by the end of the year, all of the airlines will need to be using the explosive- detection systems machines.

FLOCK: Good deal. OK, and I Appreciate it. Stand by, if you would.

Paula, as you can see, it's started to kick into gear. We're told some of the airlines have already begun the new procedures, trying them out this week to make sure they've got them all in place, and how that's going to go tomorrow. I guess we'll see. They hope it will be seamless. They hope it will be like y2k. Everybody got all ready for it, but there wasn't much of a story when it came right down to it. That's the way they'd like it any way -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Jeff, before we let you go, quickly again review exactly how this bag-match system works.

FLOCK: Yes. I want to do that, and I can do that by, I brought along one of these tags. It starts kind of with the -- you know, the tags that are put on your bag. You see the bar code they put on it, the reason for that is to, obviously, to be able to track your bag, but now they'll scan this with a scanner back in the bowels of the airport. When they then determine who the bag is and have that data in the computer, they then match to see if a person has got a boarding pass. If you have a boarding pass, then you wind up getting your bag loaded on the aircraft.

Now, the next check takes place out at the gate area, and if they determine that you have actually gotten on the aircraft, then it's OK for the bag to go. If you don't get on the aircraft and your bag is on it, then we've got a problem. Then we go out to the tarmac when someone has to kick in gear, go out into the belly of the aircraft and retrieve the bag out of there. Of course That's what they're concerned about, that that procedure will slow things down, perhaps cause some delays, so that could be a mess, and that's the big fear about tomorrow -- Paula. ZAHN: Thanks for giving us a preview of what folks who will be traveling by air might be experiencing tomorrow. See you later on, Jeff. I guess you're glad you're not out there on the tarmac. It looks awfully cold out there.

FLOCK: About 18 degrees work worth.

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