I've been noticing, while looking out the window and in baggage claims the letters PPBM on United bag tags -- also other airlines as well.

I'm so curious -- what does that stand for, what does it mean -- and why don't I get it?

Best-
A

PPBM = Positive Passenger Bag Matching.

This means your bag doesn't fly unless you do.

On int'l flights this is s.o.p., on domestic flights PPBM bags are sometimes assigned on a random basis, sometimes on a random-periodic basis (every nth bag, for example).

I would have thought that all bags for security reasons don't fly unless you do... but then again I can think of some misconnect situations where your bag would go on another flight?

I am not sure - seems like a very serious security loophole here.

*HighFlyah*

------------------
"To Fly High, Fly and STAY *UNITED* - that's the only way to do it."

Also, FYI, sometimes your bags will go on earlier flights than you do!

There have been many times when I have arrived at the airport very early and checked my bags in to my destination.

Upon arrival I stand there like a dope waiting for my bags to hit the merry-go-round, only to eventually find out they've been sitting in a pile in the corner or locked in a cage as they were placed on an earlier flight instead of the one I actually flew on, and had arrived long before me.

Now, when I arrive at a destination in which I know there was an earlier flight that my bags might have been placed on, I immediately give a quick look around the baggage claim area when I arrive there, just to see if I can spot my bag already sitting there.

Your bags flys with you on international flights but that's not true on domestic flights unless PPBM is on it.

PremEx: (Shouldn't your first post upon returning have started "As I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself..."?) As it happens, I ran into the early bag syndrome twice last week!

"HighFlyah": I would also have thought that airlines would tell passengers the truth about delays, or that you could call a reservation number three times and get the same fares each time, or that mileage program employees would know their own rules better than the passengers do, but none of those things are true either.

Here are a couple more security loopholes:

Airport security personnel at many airports are unable to communicate with the passengers with words, and only use gestures and grunts, because the airlines don't pay the security companies enough for them to pay higher than minimum wage. (Compare with airport security in Europe, for example)

Every day, tens of thousands of airline passengers answer the security questions falsely (e.g. everyone who checks out of a hotel and uses the bell service), with no consequences for the passenger, the airline, or the idiot who wrote the questions.

[This message has been edited by RichG (edited 07-15-2001).]