Allow time to transfer

I was appalled to read in the November ’12 “Boarding Pass” column, “… with the changes that many airlines have just made, bags will be checked through only to the last destination listed on each ticket. So, with itineraries using multiple, separately booked tickets, a passenger might not be able to automatically check his bags through to his final destination…”

It’s important to note that picking up one’s bags and rechecking them between flights involves leaving the secure area and going back through security. This adds a LOT of time to the already potentially time-consuming task of picking up and rechecking bags. Hopefully, this policy being introduced won’t survive for long.

As a Travelers Aid volunteer at Washington Dulles International Airport, I occasionally meet people who have come to the main terminal to look for bags that they didn’t realize had been checked through. This is especially true of foreigners returning to their overseas destinations; we often hear, “We had to pick up our bags on the way IN, so we figured we had to pick them up on the way OUT.” I’ve seen folks miss or nearly miss their next flight because of this.

My colleagues and I will now need to do more of what we already do when people approach us. When in doubt, it’s wise for us to say, “Let me see the little sticker they gave you when you checked your bags.” We must never assume that bags were checked through, even on domestic itineraries.

DONNA H. SANDIN
Reston, VA