Originally Posted by
Pianoman109876
Hey there! I’m intending to stop at the next Delta surplus sale on a 6 hour domestic layover I have next month. Since I’ll obviously have to reclear security, could I also add checked luggage too?
To be clear I won’t have any checked luggage on my first leg into ATL. I would add it at the ticket counter in ATL after stopping at the surplus sale.
This is no problem whatsoever. I have done it multiple times. You can drop bags at either the domestic or international side in ATL regardless of the destination.
Just keep in mind that ATL is an exception airport with a higher time cutoff for dropping bags - 45 mins before departure for domestic, and hour for international.
Originally Posted by
prgboy
Interesting question! You might be prevented from doing so, for “security reasons” (which justifies just about anything these days). Isn’t it highly suspicious to add a bag mid-way?
I had the opposite problem in 2018, flying CHS-ATL-SRQ. I needed to check one bag only to ATL as I was meeting a friend at the airport and wanted to give him a couple of wine bottles I was carrying from Europe. It was absolutely impossible to negotiate this with the check-in ladies. (They said I could only solve it by buying a new ticket, CHS-ATL, but I pointed out that my next leg to SRQ on the original ticket would be canceled then...).
Just to add the solution for my case if anybody is interested: I asked the gate agent on arrival to ATL to kindly pull my checked bag (gave her the number) and she did pull it on the belt at the bag claim area.
Not suspicious at all. Happens all the time. This is why the bags are still subjected to a security check like every other checked bag... 🤦♂️
What you’re describing in your other example is short checking. Yes, their system blocks this to prevent hidden city travelers. It is nearly impossible to get around for any agent in the current implementation of their check in system.
I’ve never heard of, or seen, a gate agent in ATL (or anywhere for DL) pulling a bag at a connection point/hub, short of an emergency, or a serious delay/cancellation of the onward flight.
You should consider yourself very lucky because the gate agent you had do that for you was definitely at least written up with a warning for doing that for you. They were probably new and didn’t realize it, but any short checking like that is flagged and goes to the Station Management for review because it is seen as a large potential revenue loss.