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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Calling Clousseau
Err Travel · June 8, 1999

It isn't bad enough that there are serious bad guys operating in airports. No. Now we have television crews playing undercover agents in the concourses as well.

Take the recent boneheaded stunt played out at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio. As part of an exposé of slack airport security by local television station WCMH, a suitcase was checked onto an America West flight departing to Washington, D.C.

The passenger who checked the luggage, however, had no intention of boarding the flight. Instead, it was predicted that the bag would be loaded on the airplane and sent on its way to Washington, sans passenger.

The teaser for the evening news would probably read something like, "Lax security at airport exposed. Film at eleven."

Well, it didn't quite work out that way.

What the television reporters didn't expect was that the airline and security agents at Port Columbus would do their jobs so well. Indeed, when it was determined that a passenger did not board the flight, her luggage was passed through an X-ray machine, which revealed suspicious articles in the bag.

Passengers were then evacuated while the bag was removed to one of Port Columbus' two runways. The runway remained closed for four hours before explosive experts determined that the suitcase did not contain a bomb. (The cops aren't saying, but the suitcase may have contained a tape recorder, a film-shield bag, a can of shaving cream, colored balls of modeling compound, some wire, and maybe an alarm clock. Just your normal travel items.)

Oh, and the non-boarding passenger that was in cahoots with the TV station? She wasn't just your cub reporter. She was Mary Schiavo, who before resigning her post in 1996, was inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Since then, Ms. Schiavo has published a book criticizing the FAA for shoddy inspections and allowing lax airport security.

The FBI is investigating the incident, while -- get this -- Ms. Schiavo is claiming to be a victim of negative publicity. The irony here is waist deep: Mary Schiavo, a victim of effective airport security that she intended to circumvent.

This airport equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theatre was a nutty stunt. It delayed hundreds of passengers, and worse, it increased their risk of becoming victims of criminal activity. This caper created anxiety and confusion -- just the atmosphere that would-be criminals look for to divert the attention of their potential victims.

Ms. Schiavo is not a victim here. A schemer, a conniver, maybe even an accomplice, but not a victim. Those were the hundreds of passengers she put at risk.

A final note to the airport security agents at Port Columbus: Good going.

Dr. Terry Riley is a psychologist and travel security authority. Visit his site at http://www.appliedpsychology.com or e-mail him at riley@appliedpsychology.com.