Bealine, I too have worked on the ground and I too must admit that I am sure I have forgotten to check ID's from time to time...however, its just one of those grey areas. The security element of our job is to check ID's and ask security questions...it indemnifies us. What if the pilot "forgot" to lock the flight deck door, or "forgot" to select an all important safety related switch in the flight deck (dont you love my technical terms!?!?!)!!
All it takes is for one situation to occur and the blame will not be placed on the Self Service machine but on the gate agent who did not do their job because they were busy concentrating on getting the flight out on time instead of their number one priority of concentrating on safety and security!!!
Its all about priorities and I dont think anyone could reprimand you for being thorough even here in BA. Im sure you remember a number of years ago the incident of the BAC1-11 that blew a flight deck window and had its captain partially sucked out the window. Well this was down to a less than thorough engineer who in a rush to dispatch the aircraft on time did not place the correct bolts into the window frame. Did the person who was pushing him for punctuality get the blame??? No, the poor engineer did.
Apologies for bad spelling!!!
