Divesting of your carryon bags

Divesting of your carryon bags.

Bag Checks.

A bag check occurs when the x-ray operator spots something in a bag that is either suspicious, prohibited, or needs to be removed from the bag for better analysis. When this happens, the x-ray operator calls "bag check" to summon the TSO who has responsibility for finding and removing the item(s) in question. The x-ray operator is not allowed to do the bag check himself/herself (rules, rules) but rather has to wait for the TSO in charge of bag checks. The TSO doing the bag check will identify the owner of the bag and have the owner watch while he/she opens and inspects the contents of the bag. The owner of the bag is not allowed to touch the bag while the TSO has possession. A bag check typically takes anywhere from five to fifteen minutes.

Wonder why the line isn’t moving?

The biggest cause of delays during passenger screening is bag checks. I estimate that about 80% of all bag checks are for liquid, gels and aerosols left in the bag. About 10% have something to do with a laptop – either it has not been removed from the bag or items have been placed above or below the laptop in the bin. Taken together, they account for the vast majority of bag checks and are completely avoidable. And taken together, they are almost always the reason that lines become backed up.

The mathematics of bag checks.

For you math or statistics wonks, bag checks adhere to a Poisson process. For the rest of us, what this means is that there is a high likelihood of more than one bag check occurring closely together in time. It sounds a little strange but it is similar to many naturally occurring phenomena. Events tend not to be evenly distributed in time but rather clump together. Bag checks are no different.

Frequent travelers have probably experienced this scenario: The lanes are very busy but things are moving along nicely, then all of a sudden everything stops. Now you have cascading bag checks; the TSOs on a lane assigned to do bag checks have grabbed bags and are working with passengers, more bag checks are pending, the x-ray operator has stopped the belt and is waiting for a TSO to free up for the pending bag check and it is happening across all the lanes. The lines start backing up and everyone is miserable. The TSA doesn’t seem to understand the math behind back checks so it tends to assign to few TSOs to handle bag checks during peak hours.

So what is my point? Here is some mathematics that everyone can understand:

Proper divesting = fewer or no bag checks = lines moving quickly.

It is important to bear in mind that the x-ray operator bears responsibility for assuring that carryon items passing through the x-ray are safe and do not contain any prohibited items. The x-ray operator has complete discretion over what needs to be inspected or removed from a bag for further screening, even items that technically are not required to be removed. If this happens to you, please be patient. The x-ray is an important tool but it does not do everything. Things can get jumbled together in a bag in such a way that makes it difficult to identify them or makes them appear to be a potential threat.

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Disclaimer: This material was written by a private citizen hoping to be helpful, not as a representative of the federal government, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority or of the Transportation Security Administration. Any opinions expressed as well as any inaccuracies are solely the author’s.