Can I remove other people's baggage from a conveyor in baggage reclaim?
The other day I flew from the USA to London Heathrow on a United Airlines flight.
As a British citizen with an electronic passport I flew through passport control, but I could see from the queue that the Americans on the flight were going to be a while!
When I got to the baggage conveyor, there were already plenty of bags on it. There were bags which had come up through a feeder conveyor, but an automated system was holding them, waiting for gaps on the main conveyor before it would drop them off. My bag had not yet arrived.
After waiting for a bit, I got bored and a little frustrated. Very few bags were being released, as there weren't big enough gaps on the main conveyor. So I proceeded to group the bags on the conveyor closer together, in order to make bigger gaps to allow more bags to be released.
After 5-10 minutes of this a member of Heathrow staff arrived and started actually taking bags off the conveyor belt, standing them up nearby, and freeing up far more space than I was doing. And eventually my bag arrived.
My questions:
- Are there any reasons I shouldn't have been moving other people's bags on the conveyor?
- Are there any reasons I couldn't have removed other people's bags from the conveyor and stood them up?
As far as I know within UK law there's nothing against touching someone else's belongings; the relevant wording I can think of is from theft laws which have wording along the lines of "intent to permanently deprive" people of their belongings, which I'm clearly not doing. I'm far more worried that I'd attract the attention of airport staff / security staff and get delayed for questioning or something.
Answers from a UK perspective are probably most applicable, though as this could happen to many people in many different countries, I'd personally welcome international answers (as long as this doesn't make the question too broad).
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What if someone takes my bag from baggage claim?
File a report. If your bag or valuables from your bag have been stolen, your first step is to contact the police. Then, contact the Transportation Security Administration. It's important to do it in this order because the TSA will request a police report. Next, contact the airline that you flew with.How does baggage conveyor work?
Immediately after the check-in operations, baggage pass through a system able to handle automatic barcodes, that scan 90% of the suitcases. The remaining suitcases are sent to another conveyor and will be manually scanned. Through the 10-digit barcode reading, we can have get the position of the baggage at any time.Who is responsible for baggage handling?
The Transportation Security Administration is responsible for providing the equipment and personnel to screen passengers and baggage at every airport, and responding to increases in passenger load Airports work with local TSA officials to improve security checkpoints.Can non passengers go to baggage claim?
Non passengers are not allowed into the baggage claim area at all.Best Way REMOVE PEOPLE or ANYTHING from Photo in 1 Min Photoshop Hidden
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