'Chaos' Warning Over Airport Security Plan
Security is noticeably tighter at airports

July 6, 2002

Plans to introduce an extra layer of security at UK airport check-in desks will trigger "chaos", travel agents have warned.

The Home Office has confirmed it wants extra information from every passenger - including their name, address and passport number - before international flights.

An electronic passport is surely much better than having pens and bits of paper on the desks of the airlines - Keith Betton Abta

It says there has been wide consultation on the plans and pledges they would be phased in to help the travel industry cope.

But airlines have protested that the plan is unnecessary red tape and will mean check-in times of up to four hours for some flights.

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said the proposals were "a very, very large sledgehammer to crack what is obviously a very important nut".

Abta spokesman Keith Betton told BBC News: "Obviously security is important, we all recognise that in the industry, but what we're seeing here is something being brought in rather hurriedly with very, very little consultation.

"I think it will really impact on consumers, many of whom also will probably say: 'We don't feel comfortable giving this info, we feel it is an infringement of our civil liberties'.

'Rushed through'

"There will be real uproar from consumers and it'll cause chaos in the airports."

He said if the rules were rushed through parliament as expected before the summer recess on 24 July, they would be introduced at airports over the next six months.

"Consumers will not welcome the idea of having to turn up an hour earlier just to fill in pieces of paper to confirm something that has been written in their passport electronically," he said.

"It seems to me we're turning the clock back 50 years as far as technology is concerned and really I think this is window dressing that's not going to be practical."

News of the government's intentions emerged in the wake of Thursday's gun attack at Los Angeles airport in which an Egyptian man killed two people before being shot dead himself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_2104000/2104280.stm