Early airport arrival advice carries a lot of wait

Holiday travel through Cleveland Hopkins Airport was down by 10 percent to 20 percent.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Nine of the 10 times Lisa Soletro Franks has flown since Sept. 11, she spent most of the suggested two-hour preflight waiting time just sitting in the terminal, waiting.
The other time, on a return from Phoenix to Cleveland on Oct. 12, she says she needed every minute to get through the check-in line and pass through security.
"You just have to accept that for now you have to wait on the chance that you need the time," said Franks, the owner of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Warren.
Her suggestions: Read a newspaper, buy a meal, rent a DVD player for the kids. Pittsburgh has an indoor mall in the airport to while away the hours. And don't blame anyone but yourself if you don't show up early.
Recommended time: Since Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration has begun recommending that passengers arrive at airports for domestic flights two hours before the plane is scheduled to leave. That's an hour longer than before the terrorist attacks. For international flights, the recommendation is now three hours.
The law-enforcement presence at local airports has been beefed up with the addition of armed National Guard troops, but the chief hurdles to catching a flight on time remain the same: the line to check in baggage, and the second line to pass through metal detectors and into the terminal.
There have been no drastic changes, but a new attention to detail at both stages can slow the process, travelers and airport officials say.
Stephanie Munno of Warren thinks it was the last-minute purchase of her ticket to Florida that triggered security guards to pat her down at the gate of the Pittsburgh International Airport. Guards wielding metal detecting wands went over Gary Fonce, also of Warren, after something in his pocket set off the metal detector in the Cleveland airport. Whatever it was, it did not set off the detector when he caught the return flight from St. Louis, he said.
"Really, it was not that bad, just 15 or 20 minutes," said another traveler, Tim Yova of Howland, who recently returned from a vacation in Arizona. "It just took a little extra time."
But even a slight delay can become compounded by heavy passenger traffic. On the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, passengers at the Pittsburgh airport faced three-hour lines at security gates, after clearing check-in lines that went as long as 45 minutes, said JoAnn Jenny, as spokesperson for the airport.
New machine: She said the airport plans to open a sixth baggage screening machine in time for the Christmas and New Year's rush. And additional signs and announcements letting passengers know what to expect when they get to the head of the line will also speed things up, she said.
"Overall, we expect it to be very, very busy," she said.
Letting passengers know that they are now allowed to carry only a purse and a single carry-on bag, rather then the two carry-on bags that were permitted before, will eliminate some delays at the security gate. Reminders to bring only unwrapped presents, and to remove laptop computers from carrying cases, could also decrease fumbling at the head of the line, she said.
"I would come at least two hours ahead of time," she said. "I would come here and find a parking space and be in the airport at least two hours before your flight."
The usual: Passengers departing from Cleveland Hopkins airport did not experience any more delays than usual after Thanksgiving, said Natalia Martinovic, an airport spokeswoman. Passenger traffic through the airport generally doubles on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, from 35,000 to 70,000 people, although numbers this year were off by between 10 percent and 20 percent, she said.
The airport is still recommending that passengers arrive two hours before their flight, she said.
"This is just to ensure the process is as painless as possible and so you don't miss your flight," she said.
Local passengers do have another option, at least if they want to route their holiday travel through Detroit.
Although the FAA advisory to show up for flights two hours early applies to the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, "the reality is that half that time would be sufficient," said Thomas Nolan, the airport director.
Parking at the airport is easy, and the three-times daily flights to Detroit typically carry about 15 passengers, so the lines are never long, Nolan said.