Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-11-25)

hidingina hollowed-outholebetween

the pages of a Jodi Picoult novel—

unfortunatelynotHandleWithCare. I

alsocauseda passengertothrowa fitat

mebyconfiscatingherjuicingblender

foritsrotatingblade.SoL.A.!

Anadditional1,000itemsarelogged

andcodeddailyatthe5,000-square-foot

lost-and-foundwarehousea milefrom

theterminals.Perishablesaresteam-

incinerated, andeverything elseis

sortedaccordingtovalue.After 90 days,

unclaimeditemsaresoldatauction,

withproceedsbenefitinga LosAngeles

municipalcoffer.

Unsurprisingly,thistranslatestoa lot

ofwatches,belts,andjackets—thingsyou

caneasilyforgetina TSAbin.ButI was

thrownfora loopwhenI processeda

singleshoe:Didsomeoneboardtheir

flightwearingjustoneNike?Crazierstill,

CaptainMichaelScolarooftheLAXPD,

whoheadsthefacility,estimatesthat

70 peoplea daylosea computer,add-

ingupto6,000laptopsandtabletsinthe

holdingcenteratanygiventime.

Thenthere’stheoversizecollateral,

whichyou’dthinkwouldbeimpossi-

bletomisplace.Ontheshelvesduring

myshift:surfboards,bongodrums,

a giantstuffedcarnivalbear,a sleep

apneamachine,a heartmonitor,and

my favorite—achainsaw.(Ajaunty

loggingholiday,perhaps?)Andmore

than1,000suitcases;luggageisoften

left,fullypacked,inoddcornerssuch

asbathrooms.

⑥Abirthday

cardcancause

abombscare

Differentairportshavedifferentcauses

foralarm—literally.InTexasandArizona,

gunsarea commonhigh-leveloffense.

NotsoinCalifornia,wheremajoralarms

aremorefrequentlysetoffbyinnocu-

ous items. “You shouldsee whata

music-playinggreetingcardlookslike

onourscanners!”saysJeffries,noting

thathisteamofexplosivesspecialists

hadroughly3,000callsaboutpotential

hazardsinthefirsthalfoftheyear.That

includeseverythingfromfireworksto

inertgrenades.

Onewaytocatchthesecrisesisa

passenger-sniffingdog—ofwhichthere

are 400 nationwide.These canines,

selectedfortheirsociabilityandabil-

itytodetectcontraband,gothrough 12

weeksofrigorousmilitary-gradetrain-

ingbeforebeingclassifiedas“national

assets.”Theycanidentifyhundredsof

explosivematerialssimplybysmell.

ManypeopleimagineGermanshep-

herdstobetheidealundercoverdog,

butthetrendhasmovedtowardfloppy-

eared breeds, which look less menac-

ing and use subtle body language rather

than snarls to communicate a threat.

This way, when a suspicious scent

is detected, handlers can mobilize a

response without raising the suspicions

of a potentially dangerous traveler.

Decoys are frequently marched

through the airport to keep dogs on their

paws and ensure they continue to get

rewarded for sniffing explosives. Since

handlers are required to keep emotional

distance from the animals, the canines’

only prizes are simple squeaky balls or

plastic bones—no belly rubs or snuggles.

(They do pick out their own toys though,

usually as part of a “bomb school” grad-

uation ritual.)

⑦ Here’s why

water costs $6

What do you do while waiting to board?

At LAX, that’s an $814  million-a-year

question. Retail sales and duty-free

pulled in $205 million and $234 million

in the past 12 months, respectively, but

food and beverage is the big earner, with

$375 million in sales. LAX has a steeper

markup than most U.S. airports—about

18% above typical retail pricing. (PDX in

Portland, Ore., is the lowest at 0%.)

At least some of that inflation is

due to the high costs of operating in

an airport. Consider the limited stor-

age space and that all goods need to fit

through security, which means retail-

ers can’t buy in bulk. Add the high cost

of labor—airport employees get com-

pensated for parking, as well as a daily

hour of extra commuting time I per-

sonally endured to and from the off-

site employee lot—and the $6 bottle

of water starts to make more sense.

But even with all those added costs,

most franchises report that their

AIRPORTS Bloomberg Pursuits November 25, 2019

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