My experience was very different yesterday. And it leads me to believe that this is based on the whims of whoever is running the local TSA and whether or not the airport has the necessary screening area in a location that is accessible to passengers. I ended up flying from Oakland to Seattle, and then immediately from Seattle outbound international. Both experiences were completely different/

At Oakland, I asked the check in counter if I could be present when TSA would inspect my bag. The lady flat out said it was not possible, since the screening area for oversize luggage is behind the check in conveyor belts and is in a secure zone. After asking around, she came back with the same answer. So I let it go, then walked over to the TSA agent at the screening point to ask the same question, the agent asked a few others around him, and said "no, its not possible to be present for the inspection". After i cleared the Security check point, I found a little make shift office of sorts, and asked the agents at that office again. These two ladies looked at me and said -- well you can request it, and needs to be done outside the security checkpoint. So I narrated my story, at which point they said, oh well - you can request it, doesnt mean that they have to honor that request. Its up to them to see if they feel like letting you be present.

Since I was flying international from Seattle but not on a connecting flight and not on the same booking, I had the opportunity to go through this entire exercise a second time at Seattle. After I picked up my bike bag and went back to check-in, the airline counter directed me to the Oversize baggage drop off area which is clearly marked and said I am supposed to walk my tagged bag over to this area and hand it off. (unlike in Oakland, where the Airline counter just wheeled my bag past some double doors and immediately out of sight.). At the Oversize Baggage dropoff area, there was a friendly TSA agent sitting there to receive the bags, and he basically asked me questions around how to open the bag, performed his check, then asked me how to close it. Had some light banter, and then off we went.

Based on this - i feel like this is more a function of how the airport has setup bag drop off, and not particularly a TSA official policy.


Dan - - considering you spoke to the TSA office in Seattle, that would make sense because they literally have an agent setup to receive these bags.