Long lines loom for holiday travel

Thanksgiving travelers might face long security lines at Logan and other airports, as a rush of travelers is expected to collide with new security rules recently implemented by the Transportation Security Administration.

Since September, the agency has been requiring passengers to remove layers of bulky clothing like heavy sweaters, sweat shirts, and even suit jackets during preflight screenings because they might conceal weapons or explosives. Previously, only coats were required to be removed.

The TSA toughened its screening methods because of intelligence gathered about possible terror threats and in the wake of suspected terrorist bombings that downed two commercial airliners in Russia this summer, said George N. Naccara, federal security director at Logan. More passengers are also being selected for special secondary screenings because the TSA has expanded its list of passengers preselected for such screenings in recent months.

Many frequent fliers are already used to the added measures, he said, but the TSA is talking publicly about the changes now because officials fear that a rush of occasional travelers during the holidays could complicate the screening process.

The changes are "not precipitated by the holidays, but if there are more people subject to the screening, it could take longer," Naccara said. "Educating the passenger is important because we are still obtaining so many banned items. It's the infrequent traveler that causes the problem."

Yesterday Logan International Airport officials urged passengers to arrive at the airport at least a half-hour earlier than normal when traveling this week. The Thanksgiving holiday is the busiest travel period of the year, and airlines are expecting their flights to be 85 percent to 90 percent full on the peak travel days of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after.

According to the TSA's website, the average wait at Logan security checkpoints between the 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. rush hour vary from one minute to 13 minutes, with maximum wait times as long as 41 minutes.

To help alleviate any problems, the TSA is hiring as many as 40 so-called "queue managers" at Logan. The queue managers will be stationed at the beginning of each security checkpoint line at the airport, advising passengers on what items they can and can't take with them, and on which garments they should remove before reaching the X-ray machines.

Even though most travelers are by now used to many of the TSA's security routines, screeners at Logan routinely confiscate about 11,000 banned items from passengers every month, said Naccara.

Logan spokesman Phil Orlandella said the airport also plans to have 70 volunteers on hand to help passengers, and some airlines are also trying to alleviate the rush by adding more lanes leading up to the security checkpoints.

American Airlines is adding two lanes this week to its existing four in Terminal B, for example.

"When something changes with security, we do change our procedures," said American spokesman Ned Raynolds. "We are looking to alleviate the long line situation with these new checkpoints we're putting in."

US Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said some managers for that airline are being stationed in airports, strolling along security checkpoint lines to advise passengers on what to expect. In some cases, she said, US Airways holds planes at the gate to accommodate passengers who are late because of long security lines or extra screenings.

The added screening measures come not only in time for the holiday travel rush, but also as the TSA is testing another controversial measure that it says will increase flight security.

Last week the TSA asked all of the domestic airlines to turn over personal data on passengers they carried in June, including names, telephone numbers, and addresses. The data will be used to test the proposed Secure Flight database system, which would shift responsibility for checking passengers' personal information against government watch lists to the TSA and away from the airlines.

TSA New England spokeswoman Ann Davis said the system is only in its testing phase. But civil libertarians are already protesting the system, which they say invades passengers privacy rights.

The current selectee list is one way to trigger a secondary screening. Currently, the TSA maintains its own list of passengers that require secondary screenings. Passengers can also be selected at random by screeners or because of suspicious behavior or other profiles.

The TSA gives its selectee list, which is based on law enforcement databases, to the airlines, which check it against their list of passengers on each flight.

Naccara, Logan's federal security director, said the TSA selectee list has been expanding because of greater cooperation between government agencies, though he would not disclose how many people are on the list or how many have been added in recent months.

The new TSA guidelines also require that the bags of passengers who undergo secondary screenings be screened for explosives, a process that involves swabbing the interior and exterior of luggage. Previously, all bags were hand searched in secondary screenings while only some went though explosive-detection screening.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.