sunspot

If a passenger boards the aircraft then deplanes, their bags MUST be taken off the flight before departure. I'm told it's a security risk not to get the bags off. (And I know full well they don't get it done all the time.)

Here's my question... if bags can't fly without the passenger how do lost bags get to their destination? Really! How is this different?

Please give me a break if this seems ridiculous. I just want to know the thinking behind this rule.

Cholula

sunspot....welcome to FT and the TS/S Forum! Glad to have you join us.
I think one answer to your question is that the airlines have the option of putting your bag on other flights if they decide to do so for whatever reason. Could be because of too much baggage on a particular flight or it could be the example you gave....they're returning a misdirected bag to it's owner. Even in this day of matching pax with bags I've had my bag put on an earlier flight than the one I was on. But that was a decision made by the airline and one unbeknownst to me.
The key here is that the airlines...with some guidance, I assume, from TSA.....call the shots here. It's not something the pax have any control or say so over. And someone disembarking after their baggage is loaded is a bit unusual and certainly calls for that person's bag to be off-loaded. Plus if the pax suddenly doesn't want to go to X city than I'd assume s/he doesn't want their bags going there either so it makes sense.

alanR

Exactly the same way as any other air freight - even passenger flights carry freight, so it should get the same treatment as any other piece of freight

n5667

Well, if the baggage is lost - the passanger still flew - fully expecting the bag to be on the plane with him, so that would nullify the risk of a passenger-less bag flaying the skies...

Superguy

I remember hearing it was a bigger deal for international flights than domestic flights.

That said, flying from FRA, I got IDB'd and my luggage went to IAD without me. The next day, I flew to FRA-ORD-IAD and my luggage wasn't at ORD. When I got to IAD, they were waiting for me. UA cleared them thru customs for me.

So it can be done. They did say that normally shouldn't happen though.

Loren Pechtel

The difference is that a passenger may never separate himself from his bags but the airlines are free to separate bags from passengers. It's to deter bombs in baggage. The deterrent works fine even if the airline chooses to separate the bag from the passenger because the passenger won't know it's separated.

Doppy

Pan Am 103 was blown up when the bombers checked in baggage, then got off at the connecting airport, leaving the bags in the cargo hold. The "your bags must fly with you" rule was instituted to deter this activity.

But this rule was mainly a stop-gap measure until all checked baggage in the US was screened for explosives before being loaded. Now that all checked baggage is supposed to be screened, the rule is irrelevant. There's no reason not to let baggage fly without its owner.

coachrowsey

If a psgr were to get off after he boarded & had a checked bag we would get that bag off for security reasons.
However if a psgr didn't seperate from the bag on his own accord that is a different story.
Our "friends" at TSA have screened the luggage right ?

gof

Sadly, this is false security when you have persons willing to die along with you on the plane.

Loren Pechtel

But there are fewer who are willing to die along with the passengers than who will plant the bomb and not die with it.

Superguy

Maybe they don't get their 72 virgins unless they commit suicide with the infidels?