To have reported this in the airport

[TheHyacinthGirl]

Waiting in the departure lounge at the airport yesterday and a man sat a few seats down from us repeatedly got up and left his rucksack. He did it the first time and walked over to the toilets, I thought ok fair enough, not something I would do though.
Then he did it a second time a few minutes later, but just walked off out of sight. Nerves started to kick in so I moved DCs away and found a member of staff to report it to, who removed it.
DP said I was over reacting, but I think leaving your bag unattended repeatedly in an airport is totally inappropriate! WIBU for reporting it?

Scary OP, well done.😮

No reason why same couldn't happen before going through airport security

But presumably plenty of reasons it couldn't happen after airport security, when in the departure lounge, as OP clearly said she was?

Nope, I am pointing out that items can get through security. In any airport. The OP actually doesn't state which country she's in.

No point in any of us being lax about security. Fuck ups happen, even in the UK.

The man could also have been on a connecting flight from a country where security is more lax.

"presumably plenty of reasons it couldn't happen after airport security,"

Plenty of reasons it couldn't happen is very different from it won't happen / is impossible.

Just realised I'm probably wrong about the connecting flight thing, it's been a while since I've had to catch one

Fake explosives but it does show that security isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

www.inquisitr.com/2137044/tsa-fails-to-stop-undercover-agents-sneaking-bombs-and-weapons-through-airports/

Having participated in day 1 training for security staff at a major UK airport I can assure you that you did the right thing. Security staff have to get it right every time, a terrorist only once. Regardless of which part of the airport you're in, please report all unattended luggage.

Music

No - you are not wrong. Some airports don't make you clear security until you reboard your connecting flight.

petals
Do you avoid the areas of the airport with left luggage lockers then?
Or avoid airport with them altogether?

You did the right thing.

People are repeatedly told not to leave their baggage unattended so if they choose to do so people have a perfect right to report it.

sparechange

Honestly I am unsure which airports have left luggage lockers; but if I certainly wouldn't stand outside them. I know at Euston they have left lockers and items are scanned before

Whether or not the bag could have presented a threat is irrelevant - it's not down to the OP to risk assess the situation. If she saw something she was uncomfortable with, telling staff is exactly the right thing to do - they'll be trained on the appropriate course of action, whether that be take no action, evacuate the airport or anything in between.

It's not as though OP ran through the airport shrieking "BOMB!"

sparechange

Can't believe you are alluding to the fact it's wrong to report left luggage.

You did the right thing OP.

petal
I'm yet to go to a departure lounge (y'know, like the OP was in) that doesn't have one

So you would actively avoid all airline lounges on security grounds?
And avoid all bits of the airpot near a lounge?

How reckless of airlines to put all their VIP and first class passengers in such danger

Thank you @SlaughteredChicken, someone with actual experience saying the OP did the right thing (not that it will make any difference to the terriers of MN)

petals

I"m not 'alluding' to it.

I've posted a picture of what a departure lounge looks like, so people can see where unattended luggage gets left

OP wasn't just wandering through the main departures hall and found an unaccompanied bag randomly left in the middle of the floor.

She was in a lounge. A lounge that would almost certainly have an area for bags to be left

On that basis, it is a massive overreaction to think it is a security risk, when she was probably sitting a few feet from plenty of other bags which were also left, but just more neatly on shelves.

I still think it is an overreaction to assume a bag which has been through comprehensive screening is a risk and all the people comparing this to bags left at stations either don't understand how screening works, or haven't read the OP

You know who knows best how screening works?

The security advisors.

You know what their advice is?

Report unattended luggage.

sparechange I was in the general departure lounge after security. Not one of the executive lounges for each individual airline. The bit where all the shops and gates are.
It was a tiny non-European island airport. Not the BA Lounge in Heathrow.

That photograph you posted, was, Geneva, a country where the threat from terrorism is pretty damn minimal.

The left luggage facility at Heathrow is actually not in the passenger facility at all; it's by the arrivals facility - tucked away behind huge screenings in a separate area of the terminal building (just remembered I have been in there when I had to leave my luggage on an incoming flight).

Ah, ok OP, you were in the departure hall and not a lounge at all.

In that case, my point about being feet away from unattended luggage isn't as relevant, but the luggage is still screened so I still think you were being a bit OTT

Report unattended luggage.

Does that include luggage on the shelves in the luggage racks?

You know who knows best how screening works?

*The security advisors.

You know what their advice is?

Report unattended luggage*

^^ this

The rules are no unattended bags. Only idiots leave bags unattended in a place like an airport.

So what if it's been through security. Nobody knows what a random individual is capable of or what they may have managed to slip through security.