Originally Posted by
jsloan
There's a reason that this is verboten -- it messes with the count of bags, potentially causing them to scramble to look for your 'missing' bag.
I've seen FAs take the tags off and call the gate agent down to un-scan them; I've also seen FAs send passengers back up the jetway to ask the GA to un-scan them directly. Either of those approaches is better.
Note that I recently had two separate UA FAs lie to my face about the bags "really" being full when I asked before I set foot on the airplane, when I found myself in a similar situation. I took pictures of several nearly empty bins and sent them to 1K Voice, but I'm not sure I successfully made my point. I wasn't angry about having to check my bag, which is what 1K Voice apologized for -- I was angry about being lied to.
If it's been scanned already, it does mess with the count, and then I wouldn't recommend unilaterally 'un-checking'. But typically in my experience they aren't scanned until the end of the jetbridge, and by then you don't have a tag for anyone to be scanning.
Originally Posted by
bmwe92fan
I always assumed this was because it is WAY easier for the GA to tag the bags in advance -- then after you've already boarded and then bring it to the front and then they are going back and forth to get the tags, make sure it is the right pax bag, etc... I can imagine if you board a dozen planes a day and have to do it so often it makes "sense" to the GA...
For sure it's lazy GA logic. Improves chance of getting plane out on time and requires no thinking.