LAX PREPARES FOR LONG JULY 4 HOLIDAY WEEKEND TRAVEL
Passengers Cautioned Not to Carry Fireworks Due to Explosive Danger

(Los Angeles, California – July 1, 2003) Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) officials are expecting nearly 750,000 passengers to move through the airport during the Fourth of July holiday weekend Thursday through Sunday. This will be about five percent lower than during last year's July 4 holiday travel level, primarily because airlines have trimmed flight schedules. Passengers will experience busy terminals and flights as airlines expect load factors of 95 percent or higher on most flights.

Officials emphasized that passengers should obey a ban on bringing fireworks of any kind on board an aircraft -- either in checked luggage or as carry-on items. These hazardous items could cause flight delays while authorities search through baggage to ensure passenger safety.

Los Angeles Airport Police, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies work together to ensure security at LAX. Significant resources are deployed in and around LAX to ensure public safety. During the holiday period, the traveling public will see an increased presence of uniformed and non-uniformed law enforcement officers in and around the terminal areas. In addition, there will be vehicle checkpoints at all entrances to LAX's Central Terminal Area with random vehicle inspections occurring on an unannounced basis.

Airport officials encourage passengers to follow some of these tips that will ease their way through LAX:

• All types of fireworks are illegal on board an aircraft. Federal passenger and baggage screening agents will confiscate fireworks.
• Call your airline to confirm your flight and to learn how early you should arrive at LAX Allow sufficient time for parking, ticketing, and passenger and baggage security screening.
• Bring government-issued photo identification for travelers 18 years and older to obtain tickets and boarding passes. Also, place identification on the outside and inside of all checked and carry-on baggage.
• Watch your bags at all times and remember to retrieve personal belongings -- such as cellular telephones, laptop computers, jewelry, keys and wallets -- from passenger screening checkpoints.
• Put all undeveloped film, cameras with film, and videotape in carry-on baggage, as checked-baggage-screening equipment may damage them.
• Pack in checked luggage any item that may be used to harm a person. This includes golf clubs, home and garden tools, cooking utensils, fishing and hunting equipment, and toys that look like weapons. Containers of hazardous materials and aerosol sprays that may burst in flight are prohibited in checked luggage.
• Travel light. Carry-on baggage is limited to one carry-on bag plus one personal item, such as a purse, briefcase, backpack or diaper bag.
• Check the airport's website at www.lawa.org for additional travel tips.
• Tune in to AiRadio 530 AM, the airport's traffic information station, for up-to-the-minute traffic and parking conditions.