Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of the US Sept. 11 attack, safe flight will again become a common concern among passengers. Although some European countries canceled flights to the US several days ago, China's flights to the US are still going on.
None of Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines have flights directly bound for the US east coast. Air China's flight to the US will land in Los Angeles, the western coast.
A person in charge of an airlines said that after the "9.11" attack, booking rate in many European airlines decreased a lot. Some airliners even called off part of flights to the US east coast.
American government announced on September 5 that on the day of the one year anniversary of the attack, it will make curfew in the New York, Washington D.C., and Somerset county under Pennsylvania state with flights prohibited in the three places.
It also requires that all passengers departing from and arriving at the three places should not leave seats within 30 minutes before and after plane take-off and landing.
Insiders remind Chinese passengers flying to the US especially those transiting via the US, that they should patiently accept various checkups. Previously, passengers only need to arrive in airport 30 minutes in advance, but now they have to arrive there 2 hours ahead of schedule.
In the meanwhile, insiders also advise passengers not to take any metal ware, liquid and milk power or other white powder products, nor mention any such words as "terrorism attack", "weapon" so as to avoid any unexpected troubles at the time of boarding.
( September 10, 2002)
