Unease, confidence among 9/11 fliers

Associated Press

SANTA ANA, Calif.

Some travelers were plainly jittery about flying Sunday. Others weren’t worried, confident that security would be tight on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. And some figured, well, whatever happens, happens.

In Los Angeles, Kim Pinney, who operates a day-care center in Virginia, booked the latest flight home possible from a friend’s wedding in the belief that that would minimize her chances of falling victim to a terrorist attack.

“If something was going to happen, it would happen during the day, and then it would be over,” she said in a telephone interview Saturday. Since her flight was at 11 p.m. Sunday, she added, “Technically, I’m flying for an hour on 9/11 because it will be 9/12” for most of the flight.

Authorities and travelers clearly were on edge:

Two fighter jets escorted a New York-bound American Airlines flight from Los Angeles after three passengers locked themselves in the bathroom, officials said. A law- enforcement official said the incident was not believed to be terrorism-related. The plane landed safely at Kennedy Airport.

A man was detained at the Kansas City, Mo., airport and a terminal shut down after authorities found suspicious items in his carry-on bag. Authorities said the items tested negative for explosive materials, but they gave no further details on what they found.

A Ryder rental truck parked at a curb at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport caused a brief scare. Authorities became alarmed when the driver said, “I got a couple of guns,” but he turned out to be a member of the crew of the Discovery Channel show “Sons of Guns,” and he was merely waiting to pick up another crew member, FBI official Kevin Gentry said.

Reminders of the day’s significance were palpable in airports across the U.S. and beyond.

At Boston’s Logan Airport, where the jetliners that brought down the World Trade Center took off, ticket agents, baggage screeners and other workers paused at 8:46 a.m. for a moment of silence to mark the time the first plane struck the twin towers.

At the Tampa, Fla., airport, an honor guard of law- enforcement officers carried flags while a bagpiper and a bugler played.

Matt Yates, an accountant traveling from John Wayne Airport in Southern California to Atlanta and Florida for business, wore an American flag shirt that he dons on patriotic occasions.

And Genevieve Mercier, a nurse who passed the time with a French novel about a plane crash, arrived at John Wayne more than three hours early for her flight home to suburban Montreal in anticipation of heavy security.

In many ways, there were acknowledgments of Sept. 11 all around, even if passengers didn’t realize it immediately.

Travelers in line at the security checkpoints had to take out their driver’s licenses — one of the many security measures introduced after the terror attacks. And at John Wayne, someone left behind a belt at the X-ray machine, and an announcement came over the public address system asking the owner to claim it.

Some travelers flew with an air of defiance and a determination to appear unfazed by the threat of terrorism.

“I spoke to many business people who would wince when they heard I was traveling on 9/11, but I don’t want to do that,” said Patrick Bienvenue, a native of Canada who dressed in red pants and a blue-and-white checked shirt to show his affection for the U.S., his home for the past three decades. The Rockport, Maine, real-estate executive was flying out of Boston and headed to Miami.