LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky Derby is just around the corner and that means more visitors will be in the city to watch the races. Leaders at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport are giving travelers some tips to consider before boarding.
If you follow the TSA on social media, you can see all the strange things people try to bring on planes. With the Derby around the corner, the airport's TSA is expecting to see a lot of Bourbon and horseshoes.
TSA Regional Spokesperson, Mark Howell, says, "People will take a souvenir horseshoe with them and sometimes the tools that go along with that."
If you're one of the up to 2,500 passengers traveling through Blue Grass Airport each day this weekend and you want to hang on to your Bourbon and souvenirs, officials suggest you pack them in your checked bag ahead of time.
Howell says, "Check as many bags as you possibly can. Do that check of your bags to make sure you don't have any prohibited items in there and that'll keep things moving."
If you've flown out of Blue Grass Airport, you may be used to short wait times. That's set to change starting with the Derby this weekend and with more changes coming to this airport's security system this summer.
Travelers this weekend and this summer will want to get to their checkpoint at least two hours before their flight. The airport is joining others in upgrading its bag check systems beginning May 23rd. Now, passengers at checkpoints will need to remove electronics and other items from bags before sending them through a scanner that shows 2D images. The new system, which will be placed at all three Blue Grass lanes, will get a layered view of bags thoroughly going through each one without even opening it.
Howell explains, "We want two things. We want to add that security and that computed tomography technology brings that, but it also brings efficiency as you're going through because we do have that ability to one, let people leave their electronics in their bag and two, reduce the amount of bag...secondary bag searches we have to do."
Again, the Blue Grass Airport's new security project will run from May 23rd through mid-June. Leaders say one of the three security lines will be closed at a time so make sure you plan before your trip. If you're wondering what's okay and what's not allowed on planes you can check out www.TSA.gov.
