TRAVELER'S ADVISORY TRAVEL INDUSTRY EXHALES.

Travel-industry professionals scrambled in recent days to patch up shattered itineraries and soothe jangled nerves as the nation's air service got up and running again.

Commercial airliners, grounded for two-plus days in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks, began a tentative resumption of service on Thursday. But those who book trips for many of America's travelers say it's likely several days will be required to straighten out numerous snags in the operation.

``It's got to take time,'' said Bob Kern of PNR Travel in downtown Los Angeles. Kern, president of the Southern California chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents, added as the weekend began: ``These planes are sitting in the wrong places everywhere. We've got to get them in their correct patterns. It's going to take a few days before everything gets back to normal with the scheduling and stuff.

``What we've been telling our clients is, go ahead and book a reservation, but there could be some cancellations down the road.''

This, of course, presumes that there are travelers who have the slightest inclination to get back in the air anytime soon. The images of Tuesday are so indelible, the subsequent stories of events on the hijacked planes so heart-rending, many travelers are expected to opt for remaining on the ground.

Several travel professionals said car-rental and Amtrak train business has been off the charts in recent days. And many of the car rentals are for long hauls one way.

In fact, television producers Robb Weller of Studio City and Gary Grossman of Los Angeles were stuck in Manhattan when planes were grounded. They hired a rental car with some difficulty and are driving across the country to get home. Even as flights began to resume, they remained at the wheel.

``We're hearing there are going to be issues with flights for quite some time,'' Grossman said by cell phone from rural southern Indiana. ``We're getting calls from our families saying, 'Just keep driving, don't be in a rush to get on the first plane in the air.' I know some people are afraid of flying. I think we're concerned about being stranded (if a newly opened airport suddenly closes again) and our families worrying about us being in the air.''

Carol Thorp, spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California, which operates the largest travel agency in the western United States, said that AAA has been dealing with a lot of skittish travelers, especially in regard to trips that were planned weeks ago.

``We're getting some cancellations,'' she said, `'but it's pretty interesting - most of the cancellations have involved (trips to) the East Coast and Europe. That's where we're seeing the most hesitation to traveling. The East Coast because that's where the bombings were, Europe ... it could be because that's in the direction of where the bombings were, or because it's so far away and people are worried about being able to get home if something else happens.''

The Auto Club said it is seeing ``very few'' cancellations of trips to Hawaii and other domestic destinations, and that most of its efforts have been concentrated on assisting members stranded by last week's air-traffic shutdown.

As the airline industry attempts to return to a full schedule of flights, one aspect of leisure travel that could be heavily affected this weekend is cruise travel. Cruise trips in the Caribbean, for example, generally conclude and originate out of South Florida on Saturday or today, with seabound passengers flying into the area immediately before. In the event several flights are not yet up and running, as expected, this could prevent some travelers from getting to their ships in time for departure.

``Efforts are under way to coordinate with air carriers and others in the travel industry to minimize disruption to passengers en route to or from cruises,'' said Diana Orban, spokeswoman for Cruise Lines International Association, a promotional and marketing firm for several major lines.

She added that the cruise companies do not anticipate major disruptions to voyages, and said the lines would ``handle problems on a case-by-case basis.''

Affected passengers ``should contact the cruise company of their travel agents for their options,'' Orban said, noting that details are spelled out in cruise contracts.

Some of the long-term effects of last week's events on the travel industry will be difficult to gauge.

ASTA's Kern said he believes that with increased airport security, travelers likely will have to check in as early as 2 1/2 hours before a scheduled flight. That could find some people opting to drive rather than make a short-hop flight from the L.A. area to San Diego, Fresno or even Las Vegas, he predicted. ``Once you figure 2 1/2 hours to check in, an hour flight, and an hour to get to your meeting, it might be more beneficial to jump in a car and drive,'' Kern said.

Grossman, the TV producer, is also concerned about what is sure to be a newly complicated world of air travel. ``We do a lot of traveling,'' he said, ``but we're looking into video conferencing.''

Staff writer Richard Irwin contributed to this report.

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Photo:

A Delta Airlines jetliner takes off from Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday morning. It was the first plane to leave the airport aftr its reopening following Tuesday's terrorist atacks in New York and Washington, which shut down all domestic air travel.

Reed Saxon/Associated Press