Can't check in luggage at LAS (Vegas)

[newarksmells]

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

[Desk Driver]

The hassle involved was just incredible

You are joking right?

Whatever the inconvience, Just be glad that sort of security is there.

[atco-matic]

Of course we need security, but we don't need hassle!

It's in the airlines own interest to get that right otherwise Joe Public like me aint gonna be flyin to the States til I can be sure I aint gonna have to stand in a queue for 2 hours!

Plenty of other places in the world to go in the world where they seem able to strike the right balance...

[411A]

atco-matic,

So, stay home then...why would we care?:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[newarksmells]

All I was trying to point out is that this was a very unusual way of doing things at least in my opinion. Normally, you check your bags give them to the person at the counter and the bags THEN get screened behinds the scenes so to speak. I have no problem with that.

What I found unusual is that the 2 (That's all I saw) explosive sniffing machines were set up in the main terminal covered in black cloth. I don't know if Vegas doesn't have enough room to put them elsewhere but I felt it was unusual:

1) To have these devices in the main terminal
2) Have passengers carry their own bags there
3) Because of the line you had to endure when you're trying to be a good bloke by checking your bags in the 1st place :confused:

Seems like you can't win or even get a draw on here somedays.

Newark

P.S Deskdriver...I live in New YorK and if you want a hassle, you should have tried taking the Subway once the Anthrax story came out. Every Kook and their brother had cans of Talcum Powder spreading it on the platforms closing the subways down for hours on end. Made a 90 minute commute into a 3 hour nightmare.... 1 WAY :mad:

[atco-matic]

411A, I presume from your attitude that you're flying for Southwest or some other company that is immune to the current situation in the aviation industry? I just hope your management doesn't have the same attitude, or you dont work for American/Continental/US AIr et al...:D