I was getting off my flight yesterday at SFO and I guess for the Super Bowl they decided to fence off the arrivals baggage claim and asked everyone for their baggage tag claim ticket. I outright refused since I didn't know where I put it and I proceeded to continue. Then the lady proceeded to block me with her body. I did not wish to run her over, so I stopped and she ripped the tags off my bag, asked for my ID and threatened that she was going to call the police.

I told her to call the police, which I guess caught her off guard, so then she claimed I assaulted her. Her supervisor stepped in and we talked it over; he was much more reasonable and I did not really want to escalate the situation further, so I relented, looked through my bags to look for my claim tags (which I found after a lot of searching).

I did not have a connection and I was on my way out of the airport.

Did I have the right to refuse this check?


(Just FYI, I always refuse to be checked unless it's required me by law or it's like a membership store like Costco, etc.)