I apologize if this has been addressed before, but can anyone explain the whole foolish "take your own checked bags to security"? The only airport I know that has this completely inefficient and pointless policy is JFK. After waiting over 1 hour to check in, we then had to wait an additional 45 minutes just to take our own bags to security. The ironic part is that we didn't even witness the the bags going through the x-ray machine; they were just left in a pile out in the open for the security people to run through the machine whenever.

I really don't see the logic in this whole system. Why not just give the bags when you check in, have the airline put them on the belt and have them transported to a secure area to be screened. If this was one of those reactionary, post-9/11 policies, that's fine, but the time for this has long past. Not only is it inconvenient for passengers, it also presents a security issue in itself. I would feel much safer if the bags were transported to a secure, internal area, rather than left out in the open. What if someone stole a bag or snuck something dangerous into it while the TSA employees were distracted. This cannot be a federal regulation since most airports (IAD, IAH, BOS, Mia, EWR, etc) do not have this system. Is this merely the decision of the individual airport/airline? Does anyone else know of other airports that have this dumb, inefficient system, so we can all avoid them? Thanks