Weird post-flight TSA screen
 

Just arrived BDL-ATL. Ignoring the horribly rude and lacksidaisical TSA agents at BDL, the departure and flight itself was perfectly uneventful.

After arriving at ATL baggage claim, however, we were greeted by a DL red coat who informed us that there was a problem at BDL and our bags would therefore be delayed. A couple folks started getting concerned that she meant our bags had not been loaded at all, but then the red coat continued to explain that our bags were in ATL, they'd just be 10-15 minutes late coming out because they needed to be rescreened before getting delivered to us, as the bags had somehow not been screened at BDL before getting loaded.

Other than getting a bit damp from the rain, my bag and everyone else's came out just fine, but a few questions are being begged:
- How in the heck did unscreened bags get all the way through and loaded on a plane?
- What good does it do to screen the bags upon arrival, before delivery landside to the passengers? I get that they should rescreen bags going to connecting flights, but these were all bags terminating in the domestic baggage claim in ATL.

I feel like this is something I'd like to somehow run up the chain to TSA/DHS if there's even the slightest chance it'll get to someone who can do something. As ridiculous as security theater can be, it's still rather frightening that a full plane of pax completed a flight with bags in the hold that had apparently not been given even a cursory look over before getting loaded. (And yes, I know that unscreened cargo flies all the time, but it's at least marginally harder for some random person to send cargo vs. just dragging a suitcase into the airport and dropping it at a counter).

You can't really apply "logic" and "TSA" - they are mutually exclusive.

I am curious though if by screening the bags after they have flown, the marketing department of the TSA can legally say "We screen 100% of bags"

http://www.delta.com/bagsontime

;)

If you want to get technical, 100% would really not be very comforting at all, thanks to significant digits.

Would this incident not go to the question about what we know can happen once the bags are delivered?

Take it to the media, tell them you are shocked to have flown with such dangerous baggage!

The amount (or absolute lack) of TSA agent oversight at baggage screening pods could surprise you. There doesn't need to be an officer watching bags get screened. They just go through the scanner, and the scanner will stop when it thinks there's something fishy, or it's time for a random search.

This is how we get reports of passengers who claim to have checked undeclared firearms for years.

How many yearz did we fly with unscreened bags?!?!? :confused:

Dont'ch'a feel much safer now?!?!? :confused:

;)

Yeah, forgot to add that I filed a claim immediately after my bag came out and it was approved/posted within seconds.

Fair enough. The part that really boggled me was the post-flight screening. I literally can see no point in doing that, even if the initial screening were in fact effective ...

as noted upthread ...
:rolleyes: uh, yeah ...

All the TSA has to do is find one undeclared firearm or one illegal item in the bags and the $$$ from that fine would put TSA ahead.

It's also theoretically possible that someone transferred an item from a local bag to a connection bag, so the entire airplane bin is "tainted." And if Delta took an unclaimed local bag with a prohibited item and put it back in sortation, then the passenger could be off the hook.

Reminds me of this incident...

If the bags went from point A to B safely, why do they need to be re-screened?

Reminds me of the first time I flew AS and the TSA failed to notice that one of the metal detectors was not plugged in at SJC. When we got to SEA, they made sure we were all marched outside of the secure area and those with connections had to re-clear security at SEA. This was before the porno scanners.

Ugh!

Uh? This makes.no sense. The bag would get rescreened at ATL when checked back in. Otherwise if talking about a bad DL employee this could happened even if the bag had been screened.

I mean if Delta puts the bag back in sortation and TSA finds something then, the passenger could claim he wasn't the one who put it in there.