Reuters New Media [ Yahoo | Write Us | Search | Info ] [ Index | News | World | Biz | Tech | Politic | Sport | Scoreboard | Entertain | Health ] _________________________________________________________________ Previous Story: Clinton Defends Wife's Whitewater Statements Next Story: Clinton, Zedillo Work to Improve Relations _________________________________________________________________ Tuesday May 6 11:33 PM EDT Airlines Step Up Baggage Security Measures WASHINGTON (Reuter) - U.S. airlines started a nationwide domestic trial Tuesday to match passengers with luggage as a way to intercept terrorists who might try to get a bomb on a plane in an unaccompanied bag. The Air Transport Association, which represents all the major U.S. carriers, said the trial followed recommendations by a special White House commission formed after the explosion last summer of TWA flight 800. Terrorism was at first thought to be the cause of the explosion that killed all 230 people on board the Boeing 747, but officials say evidence now lead to mechanical failure. John Meenan, Air Transport Association vice president for policy and planning, said the trial would run for about two weeks. He said the airlines were deciding the extent of bag checking, on Federal Aviation Administration advice to run trials at various airports, including hub and spoke operations and city-to-city flights. Meenan said there was a potential for delays when a passenger checked a bag but then, for any reason, might not board the flight and stayed back for a later connection. In the past, he said, that would not cause a problem. "But in the trial, if they find you are not there, they must find your bag in the belly of the plane," Meenan said. "The delay can be very significant." He said if one plane were held up for an hour at a busy airport, that would prevent another aircraft from landing and taking its place at the gate, as well as cause passengers to miss connections. "You have cascading effect," he said. FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said she hoped there would not be too many delays, adding that the trial was in part to see the effect of bag matching on airline schedules. Trexler added that airlines had the option of suspending the trial if delays were 20 minutes or longer, but by the end of the day she had no reports of any delays that long. Bags are already matched on overseas flights, Meenan said, but those are not scheduled as closely together as domestic flights when every departure and arrival is timed to get full use out of every plane making any delay costly to the carrier. He said he did not think bag matching was the answer to security because it would cause too many serious delays. He said the answer might be a combination of bag matching and profiling passengers to try to screen for further investigation any passenger who seemed to be a potential risk, also recommended by the special commission. _________________________________________________________________ ________________________ ___________ Help _________________________________________________________________ Previous Story: Clinton Defends Wife's Whitewater Statements Next Story: Clinton, Zedillo Work to Improve Relations _________________________________________________________________ [ Index | News | World | Biz | Tech | Politic | Sport | Scoreboard | Entertain | Health ] _________________________________________________________________ Reuters Limited Questions or Comments