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   Tuesday May 6 11:33 PM EDT 
   
Airlines Step Up Baggage Security Measures

   WASHINGTON (Reuter) - U.S. airlines started a nationwide domestic
   trial Tuesday to match passengers with luggage as a way to intercept
   terrorists who might try to get a bomb on a plane in an unaccompanied
   bag.
   
   The Air Transport Association, which represents all the major U.S.
   carriers, said the trial followed recommendations by a special White
   House commission formed after the explosion last summer of TWA flight
   800.
   
   Terrorism was at first thought to be the cause of the explosion that
   killed all 230 people on board the Boeing 747, but officials say
   evidence now lead to mechanical failure.
   
   John Meenan, Air Transport Association vice president for policy and
   planning, said the trial would run for about two weeks.
   
   He said the airlines were deciding the extent of bag checking, on
   Federal Aviation Administration advice to run trials at various
   airports, including hub and spoke operations and city-to-city flights.
   
   Meenan said there was a potential for delays when a passenger checked
   a bag but then, for any reason, might not board the flight and stayed
   back for a later connection.
   
   In the past, he said, that would not cause a problem.
   
   "But in the trial, if they find you are not there, they must find your
   bag in the belly of the plane," Meenan said. "The delay can be very
   significant."
   
   He said if one plane were held up for an hour at a busy airport, that
   would prevent another aircraft from landing and taking its place at
   the gate, as well as cause passengers to miss connections.
   
   "You have cascading effect," he said.
   
   FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said she hoped there would not be too
   many delays, adding that the trial was in part to see the effect of
   bag matching on airline schedules.
   
   Trexler added that airlines had the option of suspending the trial if
   delays were 20 minutes or longer, but by the end of the day she had no
   reports of any delays that long.
   
   Bags are already matched on overseas flights, Meenan said, but those
   are not scheduled as closely together as domestic flights when every
   departure and arrival is timed to get full use out of every plane
   making any delay costly to the carrier.
   
   He said he did not think bag matching was the answer to security
   because it would cause too many serious delays.
   
   He said the answer might be a combination of bag matching and
   profiling passengers to try to screen for further investigation any
   passenger who seemed to be a potential risk, also recommended by the
   special commission.
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