I don't think so. The time I was PPBMed I was a 1K.

My friend and I checked one bag each at curbside and then received a bp with CLR on it at the RCC. The people who received the PPBM had their carry on bags searched and the "wand" thing done to their body parts again. This made boarding very slow.

TF

At IAD the other day, they announced that PPBM boarding passes would mean wanding and search of carry-on and that no PPBM would mean you could board without delay. In the event, they wanded everyone and searched all cary-on.

My Boarding Pass right now does not have either CLR or PPBM on it. Looks the same as always. I have only carry-on. I guess that means I'm cleared to board without additional wanding.

UA just needs to subcontract baggage operations to UPS or FedEx agents...

At least you will KNOW where the heck your bags are.

Why UA cannot get their positive bag matching to work and bag locating system is beyond even UA check in agents.

A couple of days ago, it looked like passengers selected for gate search were getting the "hiss of death"--SSSS on their boarding passes. For the rest of us ... no special annotations.

Yes, but FedEx has to overnight everything. Do you want your bags today or tomorrow?

[This message has been edited by JS (edited 11-05-2001).]

When I click on the above weblink, I just get "HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found."

Kathy

PPBM does not actually mean that your baggage will be offloaded if you fail to board. PPBM is the designation used for passengers randomly selected by the computer to have their checked baggage X-Rayed (the passenger acocmpanies the baggage to this screening and only separates from it upon successful completion of the X-Ray.

Earlier this year, I was moved from a UA flight to a CO flight, and checked my baggage onto the CO flight with a PPBM designation. At the last minute, it became clear that my reaccomodation was unecessary, and I voluntarily returned to UA (long story). However, it was too late to get my bags off the CO plane, and I told the gate agent that I was PPBM and they made it clear that that didn't mean anything once the bag was checked.

Sure enough, when I arrived on the UA flight, my baggage was waiting at the CO terminal.

I assume that the gate agents on the flight TropicalFlyer mentions probably used the computers random selection of PPBM pax as an easy way to do their own random selection, but as others have pointed out, that's not a good idea as you should have no idea if you'll be screened prior to boarding.

I thiink this is not PPBM but SSSS. Just had to printed on my boarding pass and bag tag at EWR...had to take the bag to the last counter to be x-rayed.

Guys, to straighten the record out a little bit...

I don't work international flights but I do work domestic flights. The following comments address domestic operations only, and are based on what I know to be true and what I've observed by handling several hundred pounds of bags five nights a week for almost a year.

This stuff was different pre-Sept 11. Back in the old days, some passengers had their bags selected for PPBM, or Positive Passenger Baggage Matching. The gate had a record of it, and "PPBM" was printed on top of the ABT (Automated Bag Tag, the coputer generated bar coding tags on your luggage). Ramp personnel are not supposed to load the bag if the passenger does not travel on that flight. PPBM, however, applies only to the first segment. After that, it's business as usual.

Post September 11, they extended the PPBM policy and printed it on passenger boarding cards if they were selected. If PPBM was printed on your card, you were selected for secondary screening and I'm sure you all know what that means by now. If CLR was printed instead, it was business as usualy.

I have yet to see an official briefing, but "PPBM" is no longer in place, or shall I say, I haven't seen it in a few weeks. Instead, the letters "SSSS" are printed. I don't know why the change or what it now means, but it's on my list of stuff to look into when I have time.

see also....

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/006126.html