Please do not leave baggage unattended


Dear woman at JFK T7 this morning:

Thank you for coming back at the very last minute and claiming the random black carry-on bag that had been sitting unattended near the TSA lines. I was particularly impressed with the remorse and fear you showed to the Port Authority PD officer who was busy roping off the area and moving people away from the bag. But next time, don’t wander off from the bag for 10 minutes. That really isn’t cool.

To the TSA folks, thanks for mostly just standing there and staring at the bag and not dumping the terminal. I’m quite happy that I didn’t have to miss my flight.

The whole incident does raise an interesting point, though. Having a bunch of people just standing around 15 feet from a potential danger isn’t really all that helpful. Better than 5 feet, I suppose, but still not great. Then again, odds of such a scenario actually playing out are low enough that I don’t mind at all that we didn’t all have to clear the building.

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Seth Miller

I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.