Originally Posted by
STBCypriot
The other day I was in ATL at the B concourse food court area getting something to eat between flights. It was busy as usual in ATL and it was around lunch time so the food places were in their "move it along" mode. The person in front of me just walked away leaving his roll-aboard bag right in front of me. I noticed this after I had put my change in my wallet. I did not actually see what the person in front of me looked like except that he was a man, other wise I would have gone after him to tell him he left his bag there. I told the person at the counter that someone left their bag right there. Of course, the worker didn't care. I moved the bag aside so that it wouldn't block traffic and went to eat my food. After eating, the bag was still there (this was about 15 minutes). Being a good citizen/flyer I went to one of the TSA people (or maybe it was a LEO) who was takilking to some guy noot in a uniform and obviously not a traveler and mentioned that the bag was left unattended and that maybe they would like to go get it and make an announcement for the owner to claim it. The guy just said it was no big deal and that the owner would probably realize he left it there in a few minutes and then he went back to talking to the guy he was talking to when I came up to him. Ok, fine. Unattended bags are not a concern in ATL.
What's the point of making all these announcements of not leaving your baggage unattended, when someone can leave their baggage unattended (and forgotten) and no one seems to care about it?
Personally, I doubt this was a security threat. But what if it had been?
You did the right thing by reporting it, and sadly whom ever you informed - TSA employee or LEO - failed to do their part. Personally, I believe passengers do play a part in security, by reporting things such as this.
The unattended bag is a potential security threat. It could have been screened, but even if it was screened through the checkpoint, things can still get through. No security is perfect, nit even close. Most likely your correct, and it posed no real threat. It's when those charged with providing security become lax do threat items have a greater potential to get through. It's sad that no one responded to what you reported.
As a side note, a while ago I over heard 2 airport LEOs complaining to each other about being "bag collectors", that they wanted some "real" police work to do... Sigh.
But thumbs up to you for doing what you did.