Logan tests security corridor

Eight feet of glass, automatic locks keep passengers in line

Logan Airport is testing for 90 days in Terminal B the $90,000 security exit lane made by Swedish company Gunnebo. It is the first installation of the corridor at a US airport. (Erik Jacobs for the Boston Globe)

Boston's airport is the first in the United States to test a new machine aimed at preventing people from entering the terminal through the exit lane reserved for arriving passengers.

Since Monday, some passengers have had to exit Logan's Terminal B through an 8-foot-long glass corridor enclosed by a pair of sensor-activated folding doors.

This $90,000 security exit lane is made by Gunnebo, a Swedish company that has already deployed them in a few European airports and asked Logan to be its first demonstration site in the United States. Logan is testing the portal for free for 90 days.

"The big idea here is not only about deterring bad guys from going through, but also good guys who just came out, realized they forgot their cellphone in there, and runs back," said Sam Sleiman, director of capital programs and environmental affairs for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan. "It's not only about security, it's about customer service. If you have one incident of someone going the wrong way, you have to empty the whole terminal."

Logan contended with just such a security breach in April 2005 when a woman slipped by the Transportation Security Administration agent in charge of monitoring the exit lane and disappeared in the crowd. Logan evacuated half the terminal, brought out police dogs to search for weapons, and rescreened everyone, including the passengers already sitting on four American Airlines jets waiting for takeoff. When the ordeal ended two hours later, eight flights had been delayed for up to 149 minutes.

Preventing that kind of inconvenience would be "fantastic," said Jamie Mambro, who walked through the portal yesterday upon returning from a New York business trip.

"They figured out how to get you out," said the Boston advertising agency creative director. "If only they could get you in quicker."

Nicole C. Wong can be reached at nwong@globe.com.