Airline tests bag matching at McCarran

      A nationwide test to screen unaccompanied baggage on domestic flights did not inconvenience many passengers Tuesday at McCarran International Airport.
      "They just did it," Los Angeles-bound Mablene Smith said, referring to a procedure that matches boarded passengers with loaded luggage to reduce security risks. "It wasn't a problem at all."
      McCarran is one of 10 sites where Delta Air Lines is conducting the two-week test under Federal Aviation Administration supervision.
      Other airlines are involved, but McCarran spokesman Adam Mayberry said Delta is the only Las Vegas participant. A White House commission on airline security, formed last year in the aftermath of the unsolved TWA Flight 800 explosion, recommended "positive bag matching" for all domestic flights.
      Positive bag matching is common practice on international flights. Delta will use it on all flights between Las Vegas and Los Angeles until May 19. Passengers will be matched with their bags at boarding time by computers comparing luggage placed on board with baggage identifications for those on a list of boarded passengers.
      "If there is no boarded passenger to match a bag, you have to go in and take that bag out of the cargo hold," said David A. Fuscus, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents 95 percent of the domestic air-passenger industry.
      Other Delta sites taking part are Salt Lake City, Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Dallas and Calgary, Alberta.
      Concern exists that requiring the process will mean flight delays. During the test, some delays are expected, but the FAA has given airlines permission to cut off a test if the delay lasts longer than 20 minutes.
      Fuscus said airline records show that one of every 79 ticket holders fails to board his or her flight. If all of them had checked baggage to fly, that would mean that nearly every airliner would have to be checked for potentially suspicious unaccompanied baggage. The first testing phase began last November, before the commission led by Vice President Al Gore recommended it, Fuscus said.
      "We're looking to see if it's possible," Fuscus said. "We quite frankly don't think it would work."
      "Applying this kind of match to all bags and all passengers on all planes would be an enormous problem. The impact of what a 100 percent bag match would do to the system is probably severe."
     The Associated Press contributed to this report.