All US airports to have family screening lanes

[November 11, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Airports across the country will have designated security lanes for families to move through preflight inspections at their own pace, just in time for the busy Thanksgiving travel season.

The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its family lanes to every security checkpoint in the country by Nov. 20. The popular lanes, which have been tested at 48 airports, provide a space for families and passengers who don't travel very often to move through security at their own pace.

People who carry prohibited items for medical needs -- such as cough syrup, insulin, contact lens solution and breast milk or baby formula -- will also be directed to the family lanes, the TSA said.

"Expanding these lanes to every airport and directing families and passengers with medically necessary liquids to them, increases passenger convenience and security," TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said in a statement Monday.

In August 2006, the TSA changed its screening policies after officials foiled a plot to use liquid explosives to blow up commercial airlines headed toward the U.S. Intelligence officials remain concerned that terrorists could carry liquid explosives onto planes.

The government is testing equipment that scans liquids for explosives and hopes to lift the restriction in the future.

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On the Net:

TSA: http://www.tsa.gov/

[Associated Press; By EILEEN SULLIVAN]

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