AAA survey: Only about one-third of public very confident in air safety

Thursday, October 25th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ Only one-third of Americans feel highly confident about airport and in-flight safety measures, and many would pay extra or accept more boarding delays to increase security, according to an AAA survey released Thursday.

Some 36 percent of all respondents said they were either extremely or very confident in the enhanced security measures taken since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

About seven out of 10 surveyed said they had strong concerns about passenger access to the cockpit and the quality of luggage and aircraft inspections.

Some 72 percent of respondents said they would accept more intrusive security procedures and 68 percent said they would not mind longer delays before boarding.

``Many people remain concerned about their security, so much so that they would put up with more intrusive and less convenient airport procedures,'' AAA president and chief executive Robert Darbelnet said.

Extra costs would not be an issue _ 59 percent said they would pay an additional air security charge on each ticket.

AAA provides more than 44 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services.

The telephone survey of 1,008 randomly selected adults was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. between Oct. 19 and Oct. 22. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.