New York City Airports Face Critical Test Over the Holidays
NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) -- Nearly 1.7 million travelers are expected to pass through New York's three major airports over the next five days, and if things go poorly, the airlines may have more to worry about than snarling passengers.
Tips for getting through airport security checkpoints: _ Arrive at the airport early, and be patient.
_ Have your boarding pass and identification out when in line.
_ Put any loose metal items, like coins, in your carry-on bag.
_ Pack your carry-on bag as neatly as possible and layer items. For example, a layer of clothes, then a layer of electronics, then a layer of toiletries.
_ Put large electronics, like laptops or breast pumps, in a separate bin.
_ Wear articles of clothing that are easy to remove before passing through the metal detector. Shoes and outerwear need to be removed.
_ Make sure liquids are in bottles containing no more than 3 ounces each, and put the bottles in one, quart-sized clear baggie. One bag per passenger. This is known as the 3-1-1 rule.
_ The liquid restriction applies only to carry-on bags. Pack larger quantities of liquids and gels in your checked baggage. Infrequent travelers or individuals not familiar with these rules should place all liquids, gels and aerosols in checked baggage.
_ Do not travel with wrapped packages. In order to determine if a package is a threat a security officer may need to unwrap and inspect the item. If you are traveling with gifts, wrap them after you reach your destination.
U.S. transportation officials have been saying for months that air carriers may be scheduling more flights through the metropolitan region than the airspace can handle.
**Heading out of the city for the holidays? Be sure to check flights and roads on WCBS880.com before you leaveHeading out of the city for the holidays? Be sure to check flights and roads on WCBS880.com before you leave.
Check out the WCBS Road Clips page for the latest stories on travelling on the roadways plus links to gas comparison websites
Are you staying in or aound Manhattan? We've got the official list of street closures from NYPD for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.**
Almost three of every four flight delays in the country can now be traced back to a problem in the greater New York area. Delays were so bad over the summer, President Bush got involved in trying to solve the problem.
Federal officials are threatening to forcibly thin congestion by capping the number of hourly flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the city's premier gateway.
The airlines have fought the proposal, saying it could drive up fares and force them to reduce service to smaller cities.
But momentum has been building for some type of restriction on flights. A critical Federal Aviation Administration report on the problem is due in early December.
With the decision looming, the region's airports face a critical test.
Air carriers have scheduled a crush of 3,492 takeoffs and landings Wednesday at JFK and its sister airports, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia. Another 3,398 flights are scheduled for Sunday, the day many Americans return from their Thanksgiving holiday.
Things are expected to be at their worst after 3 p.m. Sunday at JFK, when 194 flight operations are planned in a two-hour window.
That's one takeoff or landing every 37 seconds.
The U.S. Department of Transportation suggested this fall that Kennedy could handle a maximum of 80 or 81 aircraft per hour. That's about 20 fewer than scheduled for each hour during that window.
But officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airports, say they are up to the challenge.
The Bush Administration and the FAA announced a number of initiatives last week in an attempt to help with the rush.
Commercial flights will temporarily be able to use military airspace off the Atlantic coast that is usually restricted.
Jets leaving Newark, Kennedy and Philadelphia International Airport will be able to use some new takeoff patterns that have the potential to help aircraft leave the area more quickly. Some changes have been authorized that may also speed landings.
JetBlue CEO David Barger said those measures will help.
``You get one percent here, two percent there ... It doesn't sound like a big deal, but they are a big deal when you add them together,'' Barger said.
The airlines and the Port Authority are hoping that, in the end, federal transportation officials will favor similar capacity-enhancing measures as the solution to the region's problems, rather than flight caps.
``We believe we can meet the demand,'' said the agency's aviation director, William R. DeCota.
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