Security Issue or Innocent Occurance ?

[bernieeccels]

Having come back from Chambrey to Manchester this Sunday the 19th of January,I along with the rest of the passengers had to wait a good 30 minutes or more for our luggage to appear.

When I finally got mine I noticed that my luggage address tag provide by Crystal Ski was missng as was the airline destination tag put on by the check in staff at Chambrey.

At first I assumed that they had just come off in the general handling when being unloaded.

But,those tags are quite tough and dont come off without force,and is there a possible security risk if someone else used my tags for some other reason.

After all does not a tag with a green stripe let me walk through unhindered ?

[Departures Beckham]

The bag tag (white with the green borders) is the only way of identifying that that particular piece of luggage should be loaded onto that particular aircraft, and furthermore should only travel if the person who checked it in is travelling.

Therefore it could have been a security risk if it was removed before loading. This could have resulted in a bag being carried that was not supposed to be onboard (UK security rules), which at the same time means that your bag shouldn't have been loaded as it was not tagged for that flight. I'd therefore assume that the tag was removed (by person or by machine) at MAN.

With regards to someone else having a green edged bag tag on their bag, this would be an issue for HM Customs & Excise as it would have resulted in different screening. This should not really be to much of a problem, as someone could just put on an old luggage tag from a previous flight if they wanted to fool customs in this way.

[bealine]

FYI the bag tag with Green Strips indicates the bag was checked-in within the EC (for HM Customs purposes). If you check-in outside the EC, you have a plain white tag.

Sometimes tags do come adrift in transit - especially if check-in agents loop the tag through both handles of a holdall/grip type bage, when the loader grabs both handles simultaneously, it forces the bag tag apart!

The security issue wouldn't enter into it - every bag tag issued by the computer is tallied at the aircraft side.:)

[Departures Beckham]

Bealine: The security issue I was suggesting would be a scenario where the tag was removed and then placed onto another bag. Therefore the new bag would travel as our unsuspecting passenger was onboard.

You are quite correct with the most common cause of a bagtag coming off as being the 'double-handle split' (sounds like a figure skating move), which is why we are (as I'm sure you are) advised during training to only loop it around the one handle.

Bernie: Somewhere between LGW and STN, your MAN question was answered
:)