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Passengers on plane held up for 2 hours

Thursday, May 29, 2003

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

More than 100 air travelers were stuck for nearly two hours last night after landing at Pittsburgh International Airport because of a security lapse involving a single passenger before their flight left Baltimore.

One passenger slated for a full screening at Baltimore-Washington International Airport walked away before the procedure was completed and boarded US Airways Flight 635.

As a result, security officials in Pittsburgh were ordered to conduct "reverse screening," in which every passenger is checked before being allowed to leave the arrival gate. It took nearly two hours to screen 107 passengers, 88 of whom were making connections to other flights.

US Airways spokeswoman Deborah Thompson said flights were being delayed to accommodate as many of the passengers as possible.

The full reverse screening was necessary to ensure that the passenger who dodged the security check did not pass any prohibited items to other passengers on the flight.

It also had to be conducted before passengers left the arrival gate and mingled with others in Pittsburgh International's airside building, which is accessible only to ticketed passengers who have been through the main security checkpoint.

Airport spokeswoman Joanne Jenny said no police, firefighters or operations personnel were involved because the situation was "not a threat."

While reverse screenings happen periodically, they are not common.

"We've not had any for a while," said Robert Blose, who is in charge of airport security for the Transportation Security Administration. "We had a number in the fall."

Blose said the passenger was designated to be fully screened at Baltimore-Washington International but didn't go through the whole process, which typically includes scanning with hand-held metal detectors, searches of carry-on items and removal of a passenger's shoes to check for explosives.

Apparently the man was worried about missing a flight, grabbed his carry-on bag -- which had been screened -- and went directly to his gate before TSA personnel had completed the entire check.

Blose received a call from Baltimore officials and sent a security team to the arrival gate. Flight 635 arrived in Pittsburgh shortly after 7 p.m. The process was finished by 9:15 p.m.

Lori Shontz can be reached at lshontz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1722.