AP PHOTOS

AnENDiNG TO SECURITY: Pat Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, speaks to her colleagues yesterday about airline security.

Flight attendants
rip Logan security
By ROBIN WASHINGTON

Boston-based flight attendants blasted Logan Airport security yesterday as their un~
ion president took airlines to task for failing
to make meaningful security improvements.
About 100 members of the Association of
Flight Attendants crowded an East Boston
union hall, where several members said for
years crew members with early morning departures were allowed to pass through Logan checkpoints without being screened.
United flight attendant Terry Phillips said
it last happened to her on Sept. n, the same
morning two flights from Boston - one
United - were hijacked and slammed into
the World Trade Center.
"I had a 5 a.m. check-in and the security
wasn't open," she said.
"I arrived about 4:45 and someone walked
over, opened the door for me, and I walked
through. None of my luggage was put
through the X-ray machine," she said, adding that she has experienced the same
scenario several times during her three
years with the airline, each occurrence at
Logan.
United colleague Karan Scopa said the
practice is commonplace at the airport.
"You just walk on through. That's what
happens," she said.
Jessica Neal, a spokeswoman for Huntleigh USA, which handles checkpoint security for United, said her company is only
required to begin screening at 5 a.m.
"If United requires us to open at 5 a.m.,
that's when we get there. That's totally out
of our control," she said, adding that she had
never heard of the practice.
A United spokesman did not return a call

CONCERNED: Karan Scopa, a flight attendant
with United Airlines, speaks yesterday during
the meeting. She 5alcl1ax security is commonplace at Logan Airport.

seeking comment. Jim Peters, a spokesman
for the Federal Aviation :Administration,
said the practice was forbidden.
"Did they go through a screening point?
They should have been screened," he said.
The complaint was one of many expressed
by the flight attendants, who said the airlines' stricter measures were more cosmetic
than effective.
"I continue to hear concerns every day
that the security changes are not happening," said Patricia Friend, president of the
50,000 member union.
Scopa said Logan's food service area con-

tinued to be a weak point.
"Look at the kitchens. You can get a job
washing dishes in the kitchen, come right
across the ramp and get on my airplane,"
she said.
That contention was supported by Logan
ground workers who said a gate to one food
service area was left unguarded before this
week.
"You punch in your code and the gate
opens very, very slowly. If anybody's behind
you they can come in, too. You don't even
have to work there to put in the code," one
worker said.
Some flight attendants asked that the FAA
reconsider its decision to resume curbside
check-in, which is slated to return to Logan
on Friday.
Other issues include:
• Limiting carry-on baggage to one per
customer.
• Limiting alcohol service.
• Support of the air marshal program.
• Support for non-lethal weapons in the
cockpit, such as Tasers and stun-guns, but
not guns as some pilots have demanded.
"They would be carried by employees
who would be walking around inside security, creating a situation where someone who
shouldn't have access to that gun could in
fact get one," Friend said.
Phillips, whose friend, Karen Martin, died
aboard American Airlines Flight n, disagreed with that position - even if it meant
she could be killed by mistake by a pilot
shooting behind a locked door.
"You know what? If (the alternative is)
being on a plane and then crashing into a
building, so shoot me. If it's going to save
c\'c'ryone else," she said.