While the snowstorms and slick roads have more then done their part to hinder students returning to campus for Winter term, the newly increased security measures at airports across the country seem to have proven little more than a minor inconvenience for most.
Beginning Jan. 1, federal mandate required all airports to screen 100 percent of checked baggage for explosives and explosive residue. Consequently, 23,000 newly-hired federal employees have been dispatched to airports around the country. Prior to Sept. 11 only five percent of the approximately two million bags checked daily were screened for bombs, according to the Transportation Security Administration, a federal organization created post-Sept. 11.
Airports are at their discretion to determine which method of screening to implement: oversize bomb-detection machines resembling the x-ray machines currently used on carry-on luggage, hand-held wands that detect trace amounts of explosive material, bomb-sniffing dogs, or hand searches that involve opening each individual item.
Despite the tightened measures for checking bags, students found the process much the same as when they left in December. The only other notable difference was the elimination of random checks at gates during boarding. This precaution was eliminated as of Jan. 1 at most airports because it was no longer necessary given the increased security elsewhere in the airport.
"It was actually the shortest it ever took me to get to my gate," Amanda Jaber '05 said of her return trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Manchester. "It took longer going home than it did coming back."
Many other students concurred, noting that the increased security caused minimal delay, especially in comparison tot he weather.
Bruce Gago, who flew into Boston, was subject to a hand search of his bags but said that it was a very minor inconvenience that hardly slowed him down. He said that weather proved to be the real problem getting back to Hanover, as flights were delayed and buses cancelled.
While occasional cases of delays lasting up to an hour occurred in various airports nationwide over the weekend, most students who spoke with The Dartmouth escaped any delays caused by increased security.
Both the TSA and large airlines such as United and American have announced that they expect the delays to diminish as the system becomes routine and anticipate that air travel will return to normal. On its flight information hotline, United recommends passengers arrive an hour before their flight if they are not checking bags, an hour and a half before with checked luggage and two hours before for international flights. These have not changed since the Jan. 1 policies were implemented.
