Can't check in luggage at LAS (Vegas)
Came back from Vegas on Thursday night and due to the fact i didn't want to haul my sweetie's luggage and mine all over the airport, we decided to check it in. Sure enough, the baggage destination tags were produced and affixed to our bags. After picking them up for the employee to put on the conveyor belt, she said "I can't do that. Follow the yellow line until it stops"....
We did to be met by TSA personnel and a giant explosive sniffing machine. The entire area where the machine resided was covered by a black mesh cloth. We were told to remove all locks from the luggage otherwise they WOULD be cut-off. At that point we were asked to leave and go to the gate. Our luggage arrived OK, but I have never ever seen this before. It certainly added 20-30 minutes to check-in due to the length of the lines waiting for the TSA to move the bags to and through the machine.
The hassle involved was just incredible. While I appreciate the rules, there has got to be a better way to implement this type of security (such as having the machine behind the traditional conveyor belts) rather than making customers stand in line for an additional 1/2 hour after they already have their boarding pases.
Newark