Originally Posted by yknot
The questions I have are:
1. If she had placed her belongings on the belt and passed through the metal detector and then refused screening could she still walk away?
2. Since she did receive her refund on a non-refundable ticket how is consent to search an implicit part of the contract of passage?
As to your first question, almost definitely not. Existing case law on airport screening states that once passengers enter the screening process, they must continue until cleared, else criminals would have a "guaranteed means of exit" in the event they were detected.
As to your second question, search isn't necessarily implied into the contract between the carrier and the passenger, because the carrier is no longer the entity conducting or requiring the search. Frankly, I'm surpised more carriers don't have a provision similar to the one MSP-MSY posted from UA. The carrier here was probably under no legal obligation to refund the ticket...I think your friend just got a good break.