Originally Posted by PhilH
Additionally, the point they make about hand baggage is actually a good one. If you're not going to abide by this rule, then you may as well not apply the "not allowing people to check in luggage and not get on the plane" rule. They are both one and the same thing (i.e. getting a bag on a plane without flying yourself). Then again, these days its suicide bombers we're worried about, so I'm not sure either rule can be justified, but that's another debate entirely.
True. But isn't the handluggage vs. hold luggage a different argument?
Hold luggage isn't all x-rayed, therefore they rely on the person actually travelling, and presumably not wanting to blow himself up (possibly a false assumption, but there you go).
Hand luggage is all x-rayed, and therefore nothing suspicious should have been brought on. There
should therefore be no risk in letting off a passenger, after he has boarded. About a year ago, I was on a LGW-LUX day trip and the outbound was over an hour delayed. Even though we were parked out by the fence somewhere, the captain (knowing there were lots of daytrippers on board) offered to let anyone off that wanted to (which meant calling a bus out again). Not sure if they would still do that.
I can see plenty of reasons why they might be relucant to let someone off though.