Contents:

• Essay: The Case for Profiling
• Lapses at Logan fail to catch ticket mix-up
• Reagan National to Return to Full Capacity

Essay: The Case for Profiling
Why random searches of airline travelers are a useless charade
BY CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Monday, Mar.  18, 2002 - The latest airport-security scandal is the groping of female flight attendants and passengers during patdowns. Not to worry.  The Transportation Security Administration chief is right on it.  "We're going to fix that right away," he said recently, announcing the appointment of an ombudsman.

A nice bureaucratic Band-Aid.  No one, however, asks the obvious question: Why are we patting down flight attendants in the first place?  Why, for that matter, are we conducting body searches of any female passengers?

Random passenger checks at airports are completely useless....

Read the Time article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101020318-216319,00.html 
 

A computer glitch and a series of security lapses at Logan International Airport allowed a Marblehead man with a ticket mistakenly issued in another man's name to pass through two security checkpoints Sunday night and board a jet for Orlando - even though his identification didn't match his ticket.

Airport authorities have ordered an investigation after Michael Massimi, 31, made it to his seat on Delta Express Flight 2349.  The problem: Massimi and another passenger with a somewhat similar name had been issued a ticket for the same seat.

WASHINGTON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S.  Transportation Secretary Norman Y.  Mineta today announced that flight operations at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) would be authorized to return to their pre-Sept.  11 capacity by April 15, completing full restoration of the nation's commercial aviation system.

"The return of Reagan National Airport to pre-Sept.  11 totals is a major milestone in our nation's recovery from the tragedy we experienced just six short months ago," said Secretary Mineta.  "The recovery of this airport attests to our nation's resolve."

Since the airport was reopened on Oct.  4, National Airport has been returning in phases to full capacity, giving the federal government and local authorities a chance to implement enhanced security measures at all airports serving DCA.

During the first phase of restored flights, service was allowed to eight cities.  Phase II, which began Oct.  26, permitted service to an additional 18 cities.  Phase III, carried out in three stages, began Jan. 2 with incremental increases on Feb.  1 and March 1.  Service to a total of 43 additional cities was restored during Phase III, during which approximately 620 daily flights are operated at DCA, 77 percent of its pre-Sept. 11 total.

With a return to full service, traffic will be able to grow to its pre- September 11 total of approximately 800 daily flights.