If passengers think arriving early to the airport, waiting in longer lines and removing their shoes before boarding a plane is a drag, then they better get ready for a real blast.
Soon, passengers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will be blasted with air.
The latest antiterrorist technology is a $160,000 phone-booth-like structure, called the ''Explosives Detection Trace Portal'' -- sure to ruffle hair and tousle clothes.
If passengers set off metal detectors or have histories deemed worthy of further investigation, they will be asked to walk through the trace portal. And for a full 13 seconds, they will be hit with blasts of air, from head to toe, to see if any traces of explosives are found.
Passengers have started calling them ''puffers,'' said Steve Hill, spokesman for GE, one of two companies building the machines.
Fort Lauderdale will receive two of the machines, which will be placed at checkpoints to the C and H concourse. The machines, expected in October, are part of a $28.3 million Transportation Security Administration allocation to purchase and install 147 machines across the country by January 2006.
''We're constantly evolving in aviation security to find more ways of enhancing and improving security with more efficient technology,'' said TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover.
The machine can pick up the smallest traces of explosives. The puffs of air -- blasted 18 inches away from the passenger -- do not create an unpleasant experience, Hill said.
''It's like the puff of air you might get when you're filling your tires at a service station and the hose slips,'' he said.
Miami International Airport had one machine installed in April and security officials say it has already helped speed up the lines.
''Like with anything new, the trace portal raises eyebrows, but because it is so minimally invasive, passengers get a kick out of it and move on to their flight,'' said airport spokesman Greg Chin.
Miami is expected to install six more by the end of August. Airports in Palm Beach County, Tampa and Jacksonville also have them.
All passengers eventually may be required to pass through the puffer, Stover said.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
