Originally Posted by FWAAA

Checked baggage screening was non-existent until mandated by the Transportation Security Act, which required screening of checked bags by 12/31/02.

Originally Posted by fastair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comput...reening_System

"CAPPS I was first implemented in the late 1990s, in response to the perceived threat of U.S. domestic and international terrorism. CAPPS I was administered by the FBI and FAA. CAPPS screening selected passengers for additional screening of their checked baggage for explosives."

Late 1990's was pre 2002. While it didn't impact every passenger, it was in place prior to both the TSA and 9/11. And prior to CAPPS, don't you remember there was a manual process? Look at post #2 on this thread (posted by yourself) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...uspicious.html While you posted it in 2004, that was going on since the 90's, pre CAPPS. And even prior to that, all intl bags were xrayed before acceptance by the airlines.