Security questions arise at Lambert again

ST. LOUIS -- For the second time in six days, Federal Aviation Administration officials have questioned American Airlines' inspections of some of the checked baggage at Lambert Airport.

Elizabeth Isham Cory, an agency spokeswoman in Chicago, said FAA inspectors Wednesday found that "some security requirements were not being followed" by American Airlines agents, then asked the airline to remedy the problem.

While Cory said American then briefly grounded at least 33 of its planes, the airline said in a statement Thursday that it "voluntarily delayed" 16 flights. Neither Cory nor American Airlines spokeswoman Julia Bishop-Cross could explain the discrepancy, and both stood behind their numbers.

Without specifying American's alleged shortcomings, citing security reasons, Cory said the issues were the same as those of Jan. 3, when nearly 60 American Airlines flights in and out of Lambert were delayed after the FAA questioned the airline's inspections of some checked baggage.

On Wednesday, Cory said, "we told them they had to have this corrected and that was the goal over this evening."

In a brief statement Thursday, American said only that it "identified and worked with the FAA to resolve a possible procedural concern related to the implementation of modified security procedures." American said the 16 flights it said were "directly" affected were delayed on average about 24 minutes.

"There was never a breach of security," American's statement said.

In last week's case, American Airlines obliged the FAA's request that some baggage be reinspected on 30 outbound flights at Lambert, ultimately affecting 28 inbound flights that could not access gates because scheduled outbound planes still were parked there as part of the rescreening.

At that time, American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Rader said the airline was in full compliance with all FAA orders concerning safety and security of passengers and baggage, including security upgrades federally mandated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

With FAA officials looking on, Rader explained American was undergoing its first domestic test of a federally mandated system meant to match checked baggage with their traveling owners when the FAA stepped in.