What's the deal with curbside check-in?

[cigar95]

One of the new regulations (permanent?) is no more curbside check-in. Why is that more risky than standard check-in? I've never done it, so I woudn't know what's different.


(Aside - Delta has been very cooperative, having to reschedule me twice today following flight cancellations for tonight and tomorrow morning. National has been similarly understanding, as has the Yacht Club.)

 

[jerseyman98]

I had always thought the fear was that a curbside checker may not be affiliated with the airline. They could easily slip something into an unknowing passenger's bag. Then the bag could be processed later by a real employee and somehow bypass security and make it on the plane. They do always ask if the bags have been out of your sight for any length of time and with a curbside check in that likliehood is higher.

 

[GoldenPrincess]

I thought it was to keep standing cars away from the airport buildings. I heard that many of the airports have put up Jersey Barriers and thought that Hartford (Bradley) was going to have state troopers stationed curbside at the entrances. Don't know how long that will last, though.

It doesn't matter, though. I'm still planning to go on my vacation in a couple of weeks. I refuse to let any terrorist stop me from enjoying my life! Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't really feel that scared about flying, either. I think that we'll be fine with the added security.

I still can't believe this has happened. My thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families, the men and women who have been helping at the sites, as well as the leaders of our country.

Oops, I'm rambling and off topic. Sorry about that!

 

[Beverly Lynn]

the skycaps must tag your bag and send it down the belt loader without letting it sit there for any length of time. I'm not sure of how much of a background check they have to go thru but they have to ask the exact same security questions that we did at the tkt cntr and the gate. its a safety precaution right now cause someone could check a bag thru and then not get on the plane.

 

[cigar95]

B-L, doesn't it cause a warning signal of some sort if *any* passenger checks bags without boarding, regardless of where they checked in?

The one that's going to affect us in Los Angeles the most may be the restriction about parking less than 300 feet from a terminal building. The short term parking, which many of us use for picking up returning passengers, would have to be closed, as well as the closest of the daily lots.

 

[DalGal]

Here in Chattanooga, everything is so close to the terminal, I don't know how they're going to work out the 300 ft rule. Heck even the car rental lot is probably that close to the terminal. Today they were towing all of the cars that were inside that distance to another location. They also announced that there is no longer curbside parking (no curbside check-in here anyway). My grandmother came back from Toronto Sunday and when I went to pick her up, there were vehicles all along the curb. Its going to really affect our little airport, but as they say "better safe than sorry".