Agency considers emergency number for passengers

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials reviewing airline security are considering setting up toll-free telephone numbers that passengers in the air could use during emergencies.

Also being examined is a system that would allow frequent fliers to have background checks before they travel, making it easier for them to pass through airport security checkpoints.

The ideas are in a Transportation Security Administration report expected to go to Congress today. An agency official speaking on condition of anonymity outlined the suggestions under discussion.

The new emergency number would mean that passengers would not need a credit card to call from an airplane, as is now required for in-flight phones. Regional centers would handle the calls and contact the appropriate law enforcement agencies, the official said.

Travelers on one of the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11, United Airlines Flight 93, are believed to have fought back against the terrorists and prevented the plane from reaching its destination, believed to be Washington. The plane crashed in a field in rural western Pennsylvania and was the only one of the four that did not take lives on the ground. Some of the passengers called relatives from cell phones or the in-flight phones after the plane was hijacked.

Air Travelers Association President David Stempler said an emergency system is needed.

"With the pilots being locked up in the cockpit, now it's really the flight attendants and the passengers by themselves to manage those situations," Stempler said. "Any assistance would be helpful."

Other security measures under consideration, the official said, include:

-- A uniform identification card for federal, state and local law enforcement officers. These officers would carry guns on board airplanes, providing protection on flights that do not have armed air marshals.

--The trusted traveler program, which has been discussed since Sept. 11. But some officials worry that a sleeper terrorist cell could spend years in the United States, obtain one of the frequent flier cards, bypass stringent security procedures at airports and then launch an attack.

--The use of biometrics -- face recognition or retinal scanning technology, for example -- along with voice analyses and other new technologies to help screen airline passengers before they board.

The federal security agency also said it would hire part-time security screeners at airports in addition to full-time employees. The agency is now hiring screeners to work at airports in Baltimore; Mobile, Ala.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; and Spokane, Wash.

The decision to seek part-time employees follows criticism from some lawmakers upset over the agency's request for money to hire 67,000 employees instead of the 30,000 originally envisioned.

Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead suggested last month that the agency look to hire some part-time workers to staff airport checkpoints during peak travel times, thus reducing the need to hire more full-time employees.

------

On the Net:

Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.dot.gov