Originally Posted by
akonradi
If the OP were to voluntarily cancel the ATL-BWI leg, the bags would indeed be pulled. If he decided to rebook the ATL-BWI segment for the next morning, DL would almost certainly call down to have them pulled.
For misconnects, you are correct. But there is a distinction between missing a connection due to inadequate time and skipping a connecting flight. I've had bags pulled from domestic flights this year, almost certainly for this reason. If one has a connection so short that it is plausible to the GA that they could have misconnected, then the bags will stay. But if one has an hour or more in ATL, the luggage likely won't move as scheduled sans passenger.
A FA mentioned that this was the case to me in January when my flight had bags pulled.
OP never mentioned connection time but I still say the bags will go. Not sure what you mean by "voluntarily cancel," but even if OP were to re-book for the next day mid-stream, there's a chance bags will go as originally booked. Are you saying you've had
your bags pulled, or just bags in general? Is it possible those bags were connecting to an International destination where bag matching is required? (i.e. they would not be put on at the airport of origin w/out the pax)
Originally Posted by
houserulz77
The policy is that a passenger who has checked bags cannot elect to do something which separates them from their luggage (VDB is not considered elective in this type of scenario).
This rule has been in place for a long time, and predates TSA.
If a GA suspects a passenger has done so, the bags must be pulled.
It is permissible for the carrier to knowingly separate a passenger and their bags. For instance if you have a long layover, and another flight to your destination leaves before your fight, they can send your bags on the earlier flight. IDB or VDB would also both be examples of this.
There is no fed requirement for bag matching domestically. As you say, a carrier can send bags ahead of a pax in a long layover situation (domestically). Again, not knowing the OPs layover time, his/her bags may be long gone to BWI before anybody realizes he/she isn't getting on the plane.
Folks can disagree all they want, I still suggest domestic flights aren't routinely held up because pax/bags don't match. And it's not the GA's call to hold the flight to match/pull bags.
