Although corporate travel has slowed significantly since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast, those still making business trips will have a longer and slightly more complex process when they get to Lindbergh Field and other major airports.
The main change to be aware of is longer check-in times, said Jim Hutzelman, a spokesman for the San Diego Unified Port District, which operates San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field.
The port is advising passengers to arrive two hours in advance for domestic flights and three hours in advance for international destinations, Hutzelman said.
“That’s obviously something that business travelers are going to need to leave time for in their planning,” he said.
More scrutiny is given to what passengers carry into the plane’s cabin. Many corporate travelers make overnight trips and would normally need only an overnight bag, which they would bring on board with them.
Many people flying from San Diego take short trips, Hutzelman said.
“There’s a lot of business travel out of here to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas,” he said.
Now, with heightened security mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, carry-on bags cannot have any sharp objects, including scissors, razors and nail files.
Anything found by airport staff scanning the bags is being confiscated, Hutzelman said.
Electronic Ticketing
Although no official recommendations have been made, Hutzelman said passengers carrying those items in their luggage can check in the bags and avoid the complications.
Ticketing, particularly the newer electronic form, has also become more strict, he said.
As a general rule, travelers with e-tickets must have documentation of their arrangements, and a printed e-mail notice is not always accepted.
Airlines have been accommodating travelers by downloading reservations, but customers have to go through the check-in process, which would have otherwise been avoided, Hutzelman said.
Also, curbside check-ins, which had been popular with business travelers, has been stopped, he said.
John Cruse, director of operations at locally based Balboa Travel, Inc., has experienced the changes firsthand.
In his travels since the Sept. 11 tragedy, Cruse found the security process to be extensive.
Items he normally didn’t have to scan were included in the security check, such as his cell phone, sunglasses and wallet.
Arrive Early
Cruse saw airport staff asking passengers with laptop computers to turn the computers on.
Balboa has been telling clients to follow the port’s advice and get to the airport hours before a flight as a precaution, but Cruse didn’t experience a long wait when he traveled.
“The airport was dead,” he said.
Like the rest of the travel industry, Balboa Travel has experienced a dramatic drop in business.
The company didn’t have figures for how much it would be refunding customers.
“I expect the number to be substantial,” Cruse said, noting that the airlines felt the same way.
From his estimates, 75 percent of Balboa’s bookings for the week of Sept. 17 were canceled.
By the middle of last week, bookings had picked up at his agency, Cruse said.
