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Given all the fees airlines are happy to take for checked bags, you'd think they would at least give a check at the baggage claim exit that the bag you picked u

Given all the fees airlines are happy to take for checked bags, you'd think they would at least give a check at the baggage claim exit that the bag you picked up is, indeed, your bag. Every now and then at LGA I'll get someone at the exit of the baggage carousel ask me to cross-check my claim ticket with the one on the bag, but it's very rare. Given how the airlines have gotten the TSA to check ID on tickets to verify that there aren't people using other folks' tickets, how expensive would it be to get someone to consistently check bags on the way out? I know, I know - preaching to the choir and all that - but it's still frustrating that this is a solvable problem.

larrys 13y ago
You'd have to believe that this is not a problem for them or they would do that. By for them I mean the amount of issues with people taking the wrong baggage and even having to compensate the owners of the baggage does not outweigh the cost and inconvenience to all the others having a ticket checked. Similarly it is fairly easy to walk into a dry cleaner without a ticket and pick up something that someone else owns that could be valuable. As long as you look and quack like a duck.
jedbrown 13y ago
> Given how the airlines have gotten the TSA to check ID on tickets to verify that there aren't people using other folks' tickets It does nothing of the sort, despite the fact that the obvious loophole has been published in multiple venues over the past decade. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/11/forge_your_own.html http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/11/forge_your_own... Many airlines give you the boarding pass in HTML, which is even more convenient than editing a PDF. Select the text below and drag it to your bookmarks bar, then click it and edit your boarding pass before printing. javascript:document.body.contentEditable ='true'; document.designMode ='on'; void 0
marquis 13y ago
They do this in Central America and I've always found it comforting, except when it's been a long flight and I can't find my ticket.
WalterBright 13y ago
I travel with cheap, worn, ugly luggage. Nobody else wants it! Nobody bothers my car, either, for the same reason.

larrys 13y ago

You'd have to believe that this is not a problem for them or they would do that. By for them I mean the amount of issues with people taking the wrong baggage and even having to compensate the owners of the baggage does not outweigh the cost and inconvenience to all the others having a ticket checked. Similarly it is fairly easy to walk into a dry cleaner without a ticket and pick up something that someone else owns that could be valuable. As long as you look and quack like a duck.

jedbrown 13y ago

> Given how the airlines have gotten the TSA to check ID on tickets to verify that there aren't people using other folks' tickets It does nothing of the sort, despite the fact that the obvious loophole has been published in multiple venues over the past decade. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/11/forge_your_own.html http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/11/forge_your_own... Many airlines give you the boarding pass in HTML, which is even more convenient than editing a PDF. Select the text below and drag it to your bookmarks bar, then click it and edit your boarding pass before printing. javascript:document.body.contentEditable ='true'; document.designMode ='on'; void 0

marquis 13y ago

They do this in Central America and I've always found it comforting, except when it's been a long flight and I can't find my ticket.

WalterBright 13y ago

I travel with cheap, worn, ugly luggage. Nobody else wants it! Nobody bothers my car, either, for the same reason.