LAX is No. 1 in ‘automated’ lanes
Tired of slowpokes in the security line? Bag screenings are 30% faster, officials say.
Los Angeles International Airport is the nation’s second-busiest airport, but it is now No. 1 in the number of new “automated” lanes designed to speed security screenings.
LAX last week added 14 lanes that use multiple conveyor belts to allow five passengers to simultaneously unload bags, shoes and clothes into bins to be screened. Airline officials say the lanes can make screenings up to 30% faster.
The 14 lanes — also known as Innovation Lanes — were installed at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and are in addition to 13 previously installed lanes in Terminals 7, 3 and 2. Airport officials say they plan to add three more automated lanes in Terminal 3 later this year.
Airline officials and representatives from the Transportation Security Administration have touted the lanes, which have five separate stations where passengers can unload their carry-on bags and belongings at the same time before the items go through an Xray scanner. Two conveyor belts — one that brings empty bins to the travelers and one that takes full bins to the scanner — keep the line moving, even when one of the stations is occupied by a slow-moving passenger.
“For the LAX guest, this is a great example of how technology will help speed their journey through the airport while also improving safety and security,” said Aura Moore, chief information officer for Los Angeles World Airports.
The lanes at LAX were built by L3 MacDonald Humfrey Automation, based in the United Kingdom. The lanes were first introduced two years ago by Delta Air Lines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which has 22 automated lanes. The lanes also have been installed at Newark Liberty International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and ChicagoO’Hare International Airport, among others.
Employee training
Months after a couple of sexual harassment incidents took place on board Alaska Airlines planes, the Seattle-based carrier has announced new employee training to address the problem.
In an online post to Alaska Airlines employees, Chief Executive Brad Tilden said the carrier is adding training to help protect flight attendants and passengers from being the victims of assault or harassment.
“To be clear, sexual harassment and assault have absolutely no place in our workplace, on board our flights, or any place,” he said in the post. Often such reported incidents involve unwanted touching of flight attendants by passengers or allegations one passenger harassed another.
For f light attendants, Tilden said the new training will include “a sexual assault scenario” created by RAINN, a national anti-sexual violence organization, and a Seattle-area sexualassault resource center.
He also said, “We’re developing onboard resources to clarify how guests can support one another and our crews.”
Tilden didn’t say in his post what prompted the new training, but in January the airline banned a San Diego man from flying on the carrier following allegations that he harassed a flight attendant by touching her buttocks during an evening flight from Portland, Ore., to San Diego.
In November, former Facebook executive Randi Zuckerberg posted on Facebook a description of sexual harassment against her by a passenger on an Alaska f light, and said f light attendants offered to move her — not the alleged harasser. She later updated the post to thank Alaska executives for taking her complaints seriously.
In early December, Sara Nelsen, president of the Assn. of Flight Attendants CWA, which represents 42,000 flight attendants from 19 airlines, wrote an opinion piece for the Washing ton Post in which she said flight attendants, already long objectified, remain “ongoing victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
Transporting pets
A French bulldog died after the pooch was stored in an overhead bin on a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York.
A day later, United conceded that it mistakenly shipped another dog that was bound for Kansas City, Mo., from Oregon, to Japan.
Now an international airline trade group has unveiled a program to certify airlines, cargo companies and other organizations meet the highest safety standards for transporting live animals.
The International Air Transport Assn. said last week that it created the program with the help of industry experts, including veterinarians and government agencies, to offer a voluntary certification program that sets new standards beyond the basic government regulations.
The trade group had been developing the program long before the latest dog scandal at United Airlines, said IATA spokesman Perry Flint. But he noted that the certification would show that airlines that transport many animals meet the highest standards set by experts.
Since the program was announced last week, Air Canada and the city of London have started to undergo audits to win certification, Flint said. The certification, which ensures certain training, procedures, equipment and animal documentation is in place, lasts for 36 months.
After the death of the French bulldog, United Airlines issued a statement saying the flight attendant who ordered the dog carrier into the overhead bin didn’t know a dog was inside, but that contention has been disputed by the dog’s owners.
The Chicago-based carrier also said it plans to give passengers, starting this month, brightly colored bag tags to help flight attendants identify onboard luggage that contains pets.
Sens. John Kennedy (RLa.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) also filed legislation last month that would prohibit airlines from putting animals in overhead baggage compartments. The bill was dubbed the Welfare of Our Furry Friends Act.