News from Avia International Travel

Airport Security Procedures May Ease

Security measures at airports in the United States are expected to shift slightly in 2009, as the Transportation Security Administration announced plans to ease restrictions on liquids in carry-on items and expanded electronic boarding pass allowances. Tougher requirements to collect biometric data on passengers leaving the United States was also put on hold as funding was blocked by lawmakers. The TSA said it plans to ease a ban on liquids of over 3.4 ounces in carry-on items beginning in 2009 and to lift them altogether by 2010.

TSA director Kip Hawley said beginning in 2009 passengers would be able to carry any sized liquid in their carry-on luggage, but that the items must still be scanned separately. That requirement would be lifted in 2010. "Liquid restrictions are with us for the better part of the next year, but we all realize that a simple, hassle-free security process is good for passengers and security, too," Hawley wrote on the TSA website.

The TSA is also testing a program to allow domestic airline travelers to use electronic boarding passes on their cell phones, BlackBerries and other PDA devices at airports. Fingerprint scanners may be used to verify identity. The program is expected to be expanded nationwide in the next year. Delta Airlines, which currently has the program in place at New York's LaGuardia Airport, plans to expand it to Atlanta, Orlando and Salt Lake City, spokeswoman Betsy Talton told USA Today.

In other security developments, Congress is withholding funding to the Department of Homeland Security's plan to require airlines to collect biometric information on passengers leaving the United States. Current appropriations cover the program, called U.S. Exit, through March 6, but lawmakers said they want to review the program further before approval. Congress also passed a travel promotion act to provide $37 million to expedite screening for international passenger arrivals, boost Customs and Border Protection and to expand the visa waiver program. Airlines praised the delay in funding for U.S. Exit, claiming that the program would cost them $12.3 billion to develop.

A bill introduced earlier this month would also curtail the DHS's power to search and seize laptops at borders without suspicion of wrongdoing. The measure, championed by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, would also limit to 24 hours the length of time that a device could be out of its owner's possession, after which the search becomes a seizure, requiring probable cause.

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Deal Gives Lufthansa Greater Access to Heathrow

LONDON The German airline Lufthansa will take 80 percent control of BMI British Midland, a move that gives Lufthansa a much greater presence at Heathrow Airport in London. Lufthansa, which currently owns roughly 30 percent of BMI, will pay the BMI chairman, Tom Hogan, around 400 million euros ($511 million) in exchange for his 50 percent stake in the carrier, BMI said. The remaining 20 percent of BMI is owned by the Scandinavian airline SAS. The deal is expected to be completed by Jan. 12 as long as it gets regulatory approval.

As a result of the BMI takeover, Lufthansa will control 11 percent of the takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow, making it second only to British Airways there. Heathrow is Europe's largest airport and the major hub used by North Americans flying into Europe. It will also give Lufthansa even greater control than it already has over Europe's consolidating airline industry.

Earlier this year, Lufthansa took a 45 percent stake in Brussels Airlines, with the option to buy the Belgium airline outright in 2011. It is also considering buying stakes in Austrian Airways and Alitalia of Italy.

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Family Lanes Coming to U.S. Airports

WASHINGTON -- The Transportation Security Administration is opening "family lanes" at almost every airport checkpoint this Thanksgiving holiday to ease stress for parents traveling with children during the busiest travel period. The family lanes, which often feature assistants to help parents, will be open at 533 checkpoints in every large and mid-size airport.

Families will be directed by screeners to the specially marked lanes, where parents can escape the pressure of checkpoint screening and can feel free to move at their own pace. The lanes will be open by Nov. 20 and in place permanently, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said. It's the largest rollout yet of the family checkpoint lanes, which many airports started on their own this year and have found popular with travelers.

At the 45 largest airports, the family lanes also will have special scanners to screen large bottles of "medically necessary" liquids such as contact-lens solution and infant formula, looking for dangerous material. Passengers are allowed to carry bottles of such liquids that exceed the TSA's 3-ounce limit, but those passengers will be directed to family lanes equipped with bottle scanners, Howe said.

Forty-eight airports already have set up family lanes while designating lanes for expert travelers and lanes for casual travelers. The expert lanes often move faster, and family lanes are typically slower, but many families like them because they feel more relaxed, Howe said.