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. You reported it. In the future, if TSA will not do anything about it, contact the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction at the airport. If neither organization does anything about it, you've done your part at least. If it later is determined the bag was a threat, you have a story to tell CNN. At MKE, I constantly see unattended bags on the baggage claim carousels just sitting there. No one seems concerned. I've reported it to both TSA and the airline listed on the carousel screen with mixed results. TSA said it was the airline's responsibility and the airline stated they would send someone there to pick them up(not stating when, of course). I've seen Sheriff's deputies do roving patrols and locate pax who left their bags unattended but this was in the lobby area. However, I still to this day see bags unattended on the carousels.