SDF is another airport. The CTX machines are in the lobby in front of check-in.

If you hang around and watch closely, the TSA agents shoo you off. At one point the policy was to allow you to watch and the agents would even welcome it. They would lock your luggage if you wished after screening and one time they took an old hardshell I was transporting for someone else and taped it up nicely so it wouldn't open. They were great and customer service oriented for a period of time at the luggage screening stations.

Now you hand em the bags, they go into the CTX, and they order you to leave if you hang around and watch. I'm not talking about watching the screen or anything "sensitive" either. It's as if they had a 180 degree policy change with no explanation; this happened about the same time the SDF shoe policy got real bad -- for awhile, SDF was great about shoes and now it's one of the worst.

If you watch from a good distance (SDF luggage screening), they don't seem to care, but the way the setup is, they probably are not aware you're watching from a distance. The most you can see is them drop your bag on the belt after CTX ejection or them take it to a table behind the partition for further screening. However, they will not allow you to watch your inspection. This is bloody ridicilous, considering the entire screening process is in the public lobby.

The one time my checked bag did CTX and ETD alarm was before they made the change. I was present, watched my bag go through the CTX, it alarmed, an ETD was done, that alarmed, and they had me wait for a supervisor to clear my bag and obtain my drivers license and other info. They even told me it tested positive for traces of TNT -- ???? - was a surprise to me. Now I suppose they just page the passenger (?) if there is a positive ETD.

As far as EWR, same deal. Drop your luggage and they shoo you away. However, looking inside the POD - located in the public lobby - it seems they have lots of luggage stacked up at times, much of it semi-unattended.

At some terminals at JFK they have the luggage screening and CTX in the public lobby too. i.e. T4 East. You have your bag tagged at check-in and roll or carry it over to the screening area, give it to a screener (if one exists) or you just drop it with all of the other un-attended suitcases waiting for screening while the screener is burried behind the suitcases tossing em' into the CTX. One morning at JFK T4E when they were not as busy, I even insisted on watching it. I got the "shoo off", was told to leave, and was told I could not watch it.

Last time I was at MCO (couple of years ago), but it was immediately after my ETD incident in Louisville. They had open stations then where bags were fed through a CTX and those which alarmed were opened & ETD'd. They told me I couldn't watch, but I sat back at a distance and did watch as they got to my bag, fed it through the CTX and it alarmed (as I expected because of contents). Once my bag was put on an inspection table I approached and watched the agent open my bag for an ETD swab. The screener didn't appear happy I was watching (she asked if it was my bag, I said yes, and she said ok and shrugged her shoulders), but heck, there wasn't even a partition. Luckily no ETD alarm at MCO despite it ETDing at SDF a few days prior. (I had some hand tools inside my checked luggage, which would be considered "weapons" if in my carry-on - was in FL to repair my grandmother's house which was burglarized).

The worst is LAS where they do screening in the public lobby. They have a poster encouraging use of TSA certified locks. I was using a TSA certified lock - same one on the poster - and it was cut at LAS during screening inside the same screening area which had a poster on the outside (in the public lobby) encouraging use of these. Could I watch my luggage? Nope, I was told to move on after first being told to remove the lock - I said it was a TSA certified lock, like the one advertised on the poster, and the screener said, ok, no problem. Yah, no problem, it was cut.

These days I do everything I can not to check luggage. However, I will soon be headed to Melbourne and will need to check two large suitcases with everything but the kitchen sink. I even plan on using vacum sealed (clear) bags to make the most of the space I have available. I plan on packing to avoid a CTX alarm, but if it does CTX alarm, hopefully this won't be a problem -- and if the screener messes with any of the vaccum sealed bags which will contain clothing, I expect them to repack it and have everything fit properly.

SDF_Traveler