I spoke with a former ASI (Aviation Security Inspector) with the TSA yesterday and this is how it was explained to me.

The TSA got rid of all baggage storeage facilities in non sterile areas at US airports. The TSA decided that they simply do not want any quantity of passenger bags sitting around any longer than neccessary. The lockers posed a security risk and a high potential for harm for terrorists or others to be able to exploit.

Some of the reasons given were :

Most bag rooms are common access areas , there are often cleaners, screeners, other airline employees, contractors etc walking through these areas at all hours of day, and the chance for someone to slip something inside one of these bags was considered too high of a risk. Not all airport employees are subject to the same scrutiny that airline and TSA employees have to comply with.

Even outside the sterile area (baggage claim for example) the airline employees are not supposed to leave any bags unattended, unclaimed bags that are left on the carousel and held by the airline until claimed are locked overnight in cages ( or at least at our airport they are).

My next question then was 'well if they can be locked up overnight in a non sterile area, why cant we have a lock up in our bag room inside the sterile area for our overnighting passengers " ?

The answer is that the bags are out of visual sight and control by airline employees for extended lengths of time. The control of keys and access to those locked areas cannot be guaranteed.

I have those TSA/indicator locks on my bags, and when I got my bag from baggage claim once, one of the three locks indicated it had been opened. It was the pocket I was using for my dirty laundry, so apparantly the TSA guy decided to not explore "the mysteries of my luggage" any further. :p

This summer I travelled to Turks & Caicos. The flight from DFW to MIA was delayed for about 4 hours. We missed our connection which was the last flight to Turks. Our flight into MIA arrived about 8:45 or so. The same time the flight to Turks was scheduled to land.

Our luggage was checked to go all the way to TURKS and was held at MIA. We got rebooked in MIA for the first flight out to Turks (Provenciales) at around 11:00 AM the next day. Our bagage found its way on to that flight.

We were not allowed access to our bags. They were held as they were pulled off the plane instead of being sent to baggage claim. This was before any flight rescheduling had taken place.

Some feedback.

I recently flew BZE-DFW [overnight] - ORD ... I WAS able to check the bags through ... got all the boarding passes [12 hour connection]. Everyone else in my party with separate record locators had the same experience.

I recently flew MIA-ORD [overnight] - TVC ... I was NOT able to check the bags through ['because the connection was more than 4 hours']

So it seems to be automatic, but inconsistent.

It is inconsistent. Very! Now and then I have to overnight at my home airport, DFW, due to screwy flight arrangements. Now and then on a situation when I have been able to check my bag through to my ultimate destination, I've had the relieve of not having to collect it and check it again the next morning at DFW.

This absolutely cannot be counted on. When I am really tired and truly wish to check my bag all the way through, then I can't do so!

Due to my drive time to and from DFW, I have the situation where I have to stay at an airport hotel in my own home area.

The Grand Hyatt is very nice and has a great park, stay and fly program where you can get 7 days of paid parking. So does the old Hyatt at DFW.

If I stay at an airport hotel, my dinner and breakfast are paid for. If I make the long drive home, they are not.

Checking baggage through on overnight layovers / transits
 

I am planning to take SFO-DFW and then overnight in DFW and will depart the next day to MIA. I just find out it will be more than 24 hours in DFW so I guess I can't tag my bags all the way to MIA.

Just wondering can I actually check in my bags the day before I depart at DFW so I don't have to carry all the bags with me.

You will have to collect your bags.

Shouldn't be a problem. Last Friday/Saturday I flew AUS-DFW-IAH Overnighted in IAH, then IAH-MIA-SXM. No problem checking my bags the whole way. Didn't have to collect them.

A Connection is generally considered anything less than 23 hours 59 minutes.

A StopOver is generally considered anything in excess of 24 hours from the time your plane lands in DFW to the time your next flight takes off from DFW.

Technically, it may further depend on how the ticket is 'written' and unfortunately with Etickets this becomes harder to do.

On a ticket (the old hand-written days or getting a copy of the ticket at the airport) there is a list of flights.

O SFO - DFW AA1234
X DFW - MIA AA9876

The O = Origination
The X = Connection

If the ticket is written

O SFO - DFW AA1234
O DFW - MIA AA4567 then this is a flight, a stopover and another flight. Technically you should not be allowed to check luggage 'thru' all the way SFO-MIA

If it is written as

O SFO - DFW AA1234
X DFW - MIA AA4567 then this is a connection and thru luggage should be allowed.

I would call AA and ask them if the ticket is a connection or stopover and if a stopover CAN you check luggage all the way thru. Since we already have one vote NO and one vote YES, AA would be the final source.

My read is that >24hours if written as a stopover you would not be allowed to check luggage thru. Technically.. tho the AAgent may allow it which voids everyones logic!

I have done ..

O ORD-SFO
X SFO-HKG
X HKG-BKK

Where SFO and HKG included an overnight stay in a hotel .. but it was not > 24 hours between flights.

thnaks. However I think > 24 hours means stopover.

Watch out for AA's 10-hour rule
 

I have encountered twice in the past year on overnight connections whereby they would not keep my bags. Trip 1: HNL-LAX/overnight/LAX-DFW-LGW; Trip 2: PHX-ORD/overnight/ORD-LHR on the daytime flight.

In both situations, the original check-in agent advised me the computer would not give bag tags 'all the way through'. Upon further investigation each time, they came back with an AA policy that for connections over 10 hours, bags can't be checked straight through. In both cases it suited me fine to take my bags to my hotel, though I got the impression there is a manual work-around if the pax insists.

I've flown MIA-LAX-SJC serveral times, arriving in LAX at 10pm'ish, spending the night in a hotel next to LAX and catching a 6am AE to SJC. In MIA I have my bag checked through all the way to SJC.. they won’t check it to just LAX for me.

The first time I did this, I went by the baggage carousel for my flight in LAX, just to make sure it didn't get left there; what I found kind of surprised me. A baggage person brought my bag into the area near the carousel for my flight and added it to a group of bags that were already there, cordoned off by one of those queue keepers, but not being watched by anyone or in an area off limits. Looking at the other tags, some were headed for Pacific connections on other airlines. I went over to the AA baggage office and asked them what the deal was and they said my bag would be collected at some point and would be put through to my connecting flight in the morning. Rescreened as well I’m sure.

Lo and behold, my bag was on the carousel in SJC the next morning. And has been the other three times I've done this. Also, one time it was colder in LA than I expected, so I was able to go down and get a jacket out of my checked bag.

Of course, this may just be at LAX and may not apply to any other airports. And some may find it disconcerting that their luggage is sitting unprotected in LAX T4 baggage claim for a while during transit.

That is actually really disturbing whereby the bags can just be left there. I think it is better to collect ur bags in these cases (sorry for the pun:D)

I sometimes do SMF-DFW-CZM on a LIFO (Last In First Out) ticket, and can't (and would not use in any case) thru check-in. Then again, I would not exactly trust AA would do the right thing with my life support equipment (expensive dive gear) in the bag, so am more or less happy to schlep it to the hotel I use for the layover.

Just currious, and I think I know the answer, can you check DFW-LGA-JFK-BDU? In essence, will AA transfer checked bags from LGA-JFK?